ALLAH THE EXALTED - Al Islam Online · FOREWORD Allah, The Exalted (Glory be to Him and hallowed be...

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ALLAH THE EXALTEDA rendering into English of Extracts from the Writings,Speeches, announcements and discourses of HadratMirza GhulamAhmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah

as

and the Founder of theAhmadiyya Muslim Jama’at.

First Published in India in 2015.Copies:1000

Islam International Publications Ltd.

Published by:Nazarat Nashro Isha’at ,SadrAnjumanAhmadiyya ,Qadian-143516, Distt: Gurdaspur,Punjab , INDIA.

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ISBN: 978-93-83882-71-7

FOREWORDAllah, The Exalted (Glory be to Him and hallowedbe His name)is a set of extracts taken from thebook'The Essence of Islam volume 1 which is anEnglish rendering of extracts from the writings,speeches, announcements and discourses of thePromised Messiah, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadof Qadian . It is actually the English rendering of

as

the Urdu book'Hadrat Mirza Ghulam AhmadQadiani,alaihissalato wassalam,Apni Tehrirun kiRu Sey' compiled by Mr. Sayyed Mir DawudAhmad Sahib of Rabwah.As per the recommendations of Majlis Shura 2015 ,Mansooba Bandi Committee India has tried to setout, in the words of Hadrat Ahmad , a summary of

as

his exposition of an outstanding topic,namely:Allah, The Exalted.

The Committee is publishing this selection in orderto make people to study about Allah , the Exaltedfrom the treasures of Hadrat Ahmad in its original

as

beauty.It sincerely prays that this presentation may developa zest in the reader for reading the original books ofHadratAhmad . (Amin)

as

The Publishers

.

.

ALLAH THE EXALTED .................................................................1

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH GOD .................................................1 THE GRACE OF GOD COVERS EVERYTHING.....................................2 GOD OF ISLAM VISIBLE IN NATURE AND PERCEIVED BY HUMAN

HEARTS ...........................................................................................3 BELIEF IN THE UNITY OF GOD ESTABLISHED THROUGH THE

HOLY PROPHETSA ............................................................................5

GOD'S BEAUTY, BENEFICENCE AND UNITY TAUGHT BY THE

HOLY QUR’AN .................................................................................7 Two Kinds of Divine Mercy........................................................8 Allah is Free from All Defects....................................................8 All Praise belongs to Allah ......................................................13

DEFECTIVE CONCEPTS OF GOD IN OTHER RELIGIONS....................14

Concepts of Hindus and Arya Samajists ..................................14The Concept of Christians........................................................15

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD ..................................................................... Thank for Allah’s Beneficence (Urdu Poem) ...........................1 Two Types of Divine Attributes – Immanent and Transcendental.................................................................. .....

INDEX OF TERMS.............................................................. .....

SUBJECT INDEX ....................................................................

INDEX OF REFERENCES TO THE HOLY QUR’AN .... ..

contents

Throne of Allah-His Station of Singleness and Transcendence ................................................................Nothing approximates to the Attributes of Allah......................Permanence of Allah’s Attributes ............................................2 General Attributes Mentioned in the Holy Qur’an...................2 Four Principal Attributes of Allah ........................................... God's Beauty and Beneficence .................................................5 Almighty Allah’s Attributes of Beneficence..............................5 The Will and Power of God......................................................6 Limitless Manifestation of God's Attributes .............................6

CREATION AND THE WORDS OF GOD .............................................7 Creation and Differences in Rank............................................8

REFUTATION OF THE MISGUIDED NOTIONS OF THE ARYAS ...........8 REFUTATION OF THE MISGUIDED NOTIONS OF CHRISTIANS ...........9 KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ....................................................................9

Revelation Needed for Attaining Absolute Certainty .............10 Need for Purification .............................................................10 Kingdom of God Encompasses Heaven and Earth.................11

CONCEPT OF ‘ARSH IN ISLAM .......................................................12 Refutation of the Christians’ Faith in the Unity of God.........13 Evils of Associating Partners with God .................................13

POEMS IN GLORIFICATION AND REMEMBRANCE OF ALLAH ........14 Praise of the Lord of All the Worlds (Urdu Poem) ................14 Devotion (Urdu Poem)...........................................................14 Holy is He Who Watches over me (Urdu Poem) ....................14 Epitaph of Mirza Mubarak Ahmad (Urdu Poem) ..................14 Seek Him Alone O Friends (Urdu Poem)...............................14 Holy is He Who has humbled my opponents (Urdu Poem) ....1 Praise and Thanks be to the All-Powerful God

(Persian poem)..................................................................15 A Prayer to the Creator of Heaven and Earth (Persian

Couplets) ................................................................................15 O God, the Relief of my Troubles! (Persian Poem)................15 Love (Persian Poem)..............................................................15 My love (Persian Poem).........................................................15 Devotion (Persian couplets)...................................................15 Fighting for the Honour of the Beloved (Persian couplets) ...15

The following abbreviations have been used in this book, Readers are requested to recite the full salutations when reading the book: SA. An abbreviation for sal-lallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, meaning “May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,” is written after the name of the Holy Prophet MuhammadSA. AS. An abbreviation for ‘alaihis salam, meaning “May

peace be upon him,” is written after the name of Prophets other than the Holy ProphetSA. RA. An abbreviation for radi-Allaho ‘anhu/‘anha/ ‘an-hum meaning, “May Allah be pleased with him/her/them,” is written after the names of the Compan-ions of the Holy ProphetAS and of the Promised MessiahAS. RH. An abbreviation for rahimahullah, meaning, “May Allah have mercy on him,” is written after the names of deceased pious Muslims who are not Companions. In transliterating Arabic words we have followed the system adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society.

at the beginning of a word, pronounced as a, i, upreceded by a very slight aspiration, like h in the English word ‘honour.’

th, pronounced like th in the English word ‘thing.’

Publisher's Note

The Publishers

khh,h, ,a prprgutt

onouncuronouncal

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piilirkeaket

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r h h ttchahh n in

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sd,, sstirmiongllar y tao rttihec ulEatngled iss.h th in ‘this.’

that.’

t latal t. z,, ssttrronglongly y aarrttiiccululaatteed d zpa.

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mgh,us t a bes le’

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inlong vowels by for or (like a for ‘fathe

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aiau fforor , ( l i k(er eisembling ou fiorn 'sound’).The cons

honeonatintc s vanotl uei ncals udein d t ihen thprei nca ipabovel llaist nguahageves theofsEaurmeope p.The Publishers

Allah The Exalted

Glory be to Him and

Hallowed be His Name

“This wealth is worth acquiring,

even at the cost of one’s life.”

2 ALLAH THE EXALTED

Personal Experience with God

The God Who has manifested Himself to all the Proph-

ets, and appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai and appeared

to Jesus on Mount Seir and shone forth to Hadrat

Muhammad, the chosen one [peace and blessings of Al-

lah be on him] on Mount Paran, the same Mighty and

Holy God has manifested Himself to me. He has talked

to me and has said: I am the High Being to establish

Whose worship all the Prophets were sent. I alone am the

Creator and the Master and have no associate. I am not

subject to birth or death.

[Government Angrezi aur Jihad, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 17, p. 29]

The pure life that is free from sin is a brilliant ruby which

no one possesses today. God Almighty has bestowed that

brilliant ruby on me and He has commissioned me that I

should inform the world of the way in which that brilliant

ruby might be acquired. I affirm with confidence that by

treading on this path everyone would certainly acquire it.

The only way in which it might be acquired is the true

recognition of God; but this is a difficult and delicate mat-

ter. A philosopher, as I have said already, contemplating

the heavens and earth and reflecting on the perfect order-

liness of the universe, merely states that there ought to be

a Creator. But I lead to a higher stage and affirm on the basis

of my personal experience that God is.

[Malfuzat, Vol. III, p. 16]

Allah The Exalted 2

Our paradise lies in our God. Our highest delight is in

our God for we have seen Him and have found every

beauty in Him. This wealth is worth procuring though

one might have to lay down one's life to procure it. This

ruby is worth purchasing though one may have to lose

oneself to acquire it. O ye, who are bereft! run to this foun-

tain and it will satisfy you. It is the fountain of life that will

save you. What shall I do, and how shall I impress the

hearts with this good news, and by beating what drum

shall I make the announcement that this is our God, so

that people might hear? What remedy shall I apply to the

ears of the people so that they should listen?

[Kashti Nuh, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, pp. 21-22]

The Grace of God Covers Everything

God is the light of the heavens and the earth. Every light

that is visible on the heights or in the valleys, whether in

souls or in bodies, whether personal or impersonal,

whether apparent or hidden, whether in the mind or out-

side it, is a bounty of His grace. This is an indication that

the general grace of the Lord of the worlds envelops eve-

rything and nothing is deprived of that grace. He is the

source of all grace, the ultimate cause of all lights and the

fountainhead of all mercies. His Being is the support of

the universe and is the refuge of all high and low. He it is

Who brought everything out of the darkness of nothing-

ness and bestowed upon everything the mantle of being.

No other being than Him is in himself present and eternal

or is not the recipient of His grace. Earth and heaven,

man and animals, stones and trees, souls and bodies,

have all come into existence by His grace.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, pp. 191-192, footnote]

Allah the Exalted 3

God of Islam Visible in Nature and Perceived by

Human Hearts

The God of Islam is the same God Who is visible in the

mirror of the law of nature and is discernible in the book of

nature. Islam has not presented a new God but has pre-

sented the same God Who is presented by the light of

man's heart, by the conscience of man, and by heaven and

earth.

[Majmu‘a Ishtiharat, Vol. II, pp. 310-311]

Our soul and every particle of our being are prostrate

before the Mighty, True and Perfect God from Whose

hand every soul and every particle of creation together

with all its faculties came into being, and through Whose

support every being is sustained. Nothing is outside His

knowledge, outside His control, or outside His creation.

We call thousands of blessings and peace and mercy on

the Holy Prophet Muhammad, the chosen one [peace and

blessings of Allah be on him] through whom we have

found the Living God Who gives us proof of His exis-

tence through His Word. He demonstrates to us through

extraordinary signs His shining countenance which pos-

sesses eternal and perfect power. We found the

Messengersa

who manifested God to us and we found the

God Who created everything through His perfect power.

How majestic is His power that nothing came into being

without it and nothing can continue to exist without its

support. That True God of ours possesses numberless

blessings, numberless powers, numberless beauties and

beneficences. There is no other God beside Him.

[Nasim-e-Da‘wat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, p. 363]

The Being of God is transcendental and beyond the be-

yond and is most secret and cannot be discovered by the

Allah The Exalted 4

power of human reasoning alone. No argument can prove

it conclusively, inasmuch as reason can travel only so far

that contemplating the universe it feels the need of a

Creator. But the feeling of a need is one thing and it is

quite another to arrive at the certainty that the God,

Whose need has been felt, does in fact exist. As the op-

eration of reason is defective, incomplete and doubtful, a

philosopher cannot recognize God purely through reason.

Most people who try to determine the existence of God

Almighty purely through the exercise of reason, in the

end become atheists. Reflecting over the creation of the

heavens and the earth does not avail them much and they

begin to deride and laugh at the men of God. One of their

arguments is that there are thousands of things in the

world which have no use and the fashioning of which

does not indicate the existence of a fashioner. They exist

merely as vain and useless things. These people do not

seem to realize that lack of knowledge of something does

not necessarily negate its existence.

There are millions of people in the world who regard

themselves as very wise philosophers and who utterly

deny the existence of God. It is obvious that if they had

discovered a strong reason for the existence of God, they

would not have denied it. If they had discovered a con-

clusive argument in support of the existence of God, they

would not have rejected it shamelessly and in derision. It

is obvious, therefore, that no one boarding the ark of the

philosophers can find deliverance from the storm of

doubts, but is bound to be drowned, and such a one

would never have access to the drinking of pure Unity.

Allah the Exalted 5

Belief in the Unity of God Established

through the Holy Prophetsa

It is a false and stinking notion that belief in the Unity of

God can be achieved otherwise than through the Holy

Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him]; nor

can man achieve salvation without it. How can there be

faith in the Unity of God unless there is perfect certainty

with regard to His existence? Be sure, therefore, that be-

lief in the Unity of God can be achieved only through a

Prophet, as our Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of

Allah be on him] convinced the atheists and pagans of

Arabia of the existence of God Almighty by showing

them thousands of heavenly signs. Up till today, the true

and perfect followers of the Holy Prophet [peace and

blessings of Allah be on him] present those signs to the

atheists.

The truth is that till a person observes the living powers

of the Living God, Satan does not depart from his heart,

nor does true Unity enter into it, nor can he believe with

certainty in the existence of God. This holy and perfect

Unity is appreciated only through the Holy Prophet

[peace and blessings of Allah be on him].

[Haqiqat-ul-Wahi, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 22, pp. 120-121]

It is not within the power of man to comprehend all the

activities of the Divine, as they are above reason, intel-

lect and imagination. A man should not be proud of his

pittance of knowledge that he has to some degree com-

prehended the system of cause and effect, inasmuch as

that knowledge of his is very limited, as if it were a mil-

lionth part of one drop out of the ocean. The truth is that

as God Almighty Himself is unbounded His activities are

unbounded also. It is beyond and above human power to

Allah The Exalted 6

reach the reality of every activity of God.

Contemplating His eternal attributes we can, however,

affirm that as Divine attributes have never fallen into

disuse, therefore, in God's creation, some species have

always existed in one form or the other; but any eternal

personal coexistence (with God—Ed.) is false. It is to be

remembered that, like His attribute of creation, His at-

tribute of destruction has always been in operation all the

time and that also has never fallen into disuse.

The philosophers have put forth every effort to bring the

creation of heavenly and earthly bodies within the pur-

view of their physical laws and to establish the source of

all creation, but they have utterly failed to do so. What-

ever they have gathered together as the result of their

physical research is quite incomplete and defective. That

is why they have not been able to adhere to their theories

throughout and have always changed them about. As

their research is confined entirely to their reason and

speculation and they receive no help from God, they

cannot emerge out of their darkness. No one can truly

recognize God till he understands that there are number-

less activities of the Divine which are far beyond and

above human power, reason, and speculation. Before

reaching this stage of understanding, a person is either an

atheist and has no faith in God, or if he does believe in

God, that god is the result of his own reasoning and is not

the God Who manifests His Own Being and the myster-

ies of Whose powers are so numerous that human reason

cannot encompass them. Since God has bestowed upon

me the knowledge that His powers are wonderful, that

they have depth upon depth and are beyond of beyond,

and are outside comprehension, I have always considered

Allah the Exalted 7

the philosophers to be rank disbelievers and secret athe-

ists. It is my personal observation, and I have had

experience of such wonderful Divine powers, that we can

only describe them as something coming into existence

out of non-existence. I have described some instances of

these signs at some other places. He who has not ob-

served this wonder of Divine power has observed

nothing. We do not believe in a god whose powers are

limited by our reason and speculation and there is noth-

ing beyond. We believe in the God Whose powers, like

His Being, are unlimited, unconfined, and unending.

[Chashma-e-Ma‘rifat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 23, pp. 280-282]

God's Beauty, Beneficence and Unity

taught by the Holy Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an comprises teachings which work to-

wards endearing God. They exhibit His beauties and

remind us of His beneficence, inasmuch as love is cre-

ated either by the observation of beauty or by the

remembrance of beneficence. The Qur’an teaches that by

virtue of His excellences God is One, without associate.

He suffers from no defect. He comprehends all good

qualities and manifests all holy powers. He is the Origi-

nator of all creation and is the fountainhead of all grace.

He is the Master of all recompense and everything re-

turns to Him. He is near and yet far, and He is far and yet

near. He is above all, but it cannot be said that there is

someone below Him. He is more hidden than everything

else is but it cannot be said that there is something more

manifest than Him. He is Self-Existing in His Being and

everything is alive through Him. He is Self-Sustaining

and everything is sustained by Him. He supports every-

thing and there is nothing that supports Him. There is

Allah the Exalted 8

nothing that has come into being on its own, or can live

without Him on its own. He comprehends everything, but

it cannot be said what is the nature of that comprehen-

sion. He is the Light of everything in heaven and earth

and every light has shone forth from His hand and is a

reflection of His Being. He is the Providence of the uni-

verse. There is no soul that is not sustained by Him and

exists by itself. No soul has any power which it has not

obtained from Him and which exists by itself.

Two Kinds of Divine Mercy

His mercy is of two kinds. One, which has been eternally

manifested without being the result of any action on the

part of anyone. For instance, heaven and earth, the sun,

moon and planets, water, fire and air, and all the particles

of the universe which were created for our comfort, and

all those things that were needed by us, were provided

before our coming into being. All this was done when we

were not even present. No action had proceeded from us.

Who can say that the sun was created on account of some

action of his, or that the earth was created in consequence

of some good action of his? This is the mercy which

came into operation before the creation of man and is not

the result of anyone's actions. The second kind of Divine

mercy comes into operation in consequence of human

action. This needs no illustration.

Allah is Free from All Defects

The Holy Qur’an sets forth that God is free from all de-

fects and is not subject to any loss; and He desires that

man should purify himself from defects by acting upon

His instructions. He has said:

Allah the Exalted 9

17

This means that: He who has no insight in this world and

is not able to behold the Peerless Being, will be blind

after death and will be enveloped in darkness, inasmuch

as man is bestowed insight in this life with which to see

God and he who will not take that insight with him from

this world, will not be able to see God in the hereafter.

God Almighty has made it clear in this verse what pro-

gress He desires man to achieve and how far man can

proceed by following His teaching. God sets forth in the

Holy Qur’an the teaching by following which a person

can see God in this very life. As Allah says:

18

This means that: He who desires to see God—who is the

True Creator—in this very life, should act righteously.

That is to say, his conduct should exhibit no default and

his actions should not be for show, nor should he take

pride in them that he is such and such, nor should his

actions be defective and incomplete, nor should they

smell of anything which is inconsistent with his personal

love of God. All his actions should breathe sincerity and

faithfulness. He should abstain from associating anything

with God. He should worship neither sun nor moon, nor

stars, nor air, nor fire, nor water, nor any other thing

whatsoever. He should not exalt worldly means so as to

depend upon them as if they were God's associates, nor

should he depend upon his own enterprise and effort, for

this is also a species of association. Having done every-

17 Bani Isra’il, 17:73 [Publisher] 18 al-Kahf, 18:111 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 10

thing, he should consider that he has done nothing. He

should have no pride in his knowledge, nor have depend-

ence upon his actions. He should consider himself truly

ignorant and slothful and his soul should be prostrate all

the time at the threshold of God Almighty. He should

draw the grace of God to himself through his supplica-

tions. He should become like a person who is thirsty and

is helpless and finds a fountain spring forth in front of

him, the water of which is clear and sweet, and he crawls

up to the fountain and applies his lips to it and does not

let go till he is fully satisfied.

In the Holy Qur’an, our God describes His attributes

thus:

19

This means that: Your God is One in His Being and in

His attributes. No other being is eternal and everlasting

and self-existing like His Being, nor are the attributes of

any being like His attributes.

A person's knowledge needs a teacher and yet is limited.

God's knowledge needs no teacher and is unlimited. A

person's hearing is dependent upon air and is limited, but

God's hearing is inherent and is unlimited. A person's

seeing is dependent upon the light of the sun or some

other light and is limited, but God's seeing is by His in-

herent light and is unlimited. The power of man to create

is dependent upon some matter, needs time and is lim-

ited. God's power to create is neither dependent on any

matter nor does it need time and is unlimited. All His

attributes are without equal and as He has no equal in His

19 al-Ikhlas, 112:2-5 [Publisher]


Being, no one is His equal in His attributes. If one of His

attributes were to be defective, all His attributes would

be defective and therefore His Unity cannot be estab-

lished unless He were without any equal in His attributes

as He is without any equal in His Being. He is not any-

one's son, nor is anyone His son. He is Self-Sufficient

and needs neither father nor son. This is the Unity which

the Holy Qur’an teaches and which is the basis of our

faith.

[Lecture Lahore, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 20, pp. 152-155]

God has commanded me to inform the members of my

Community that those who have believed with a faith

which contains nothing of the world in it, and which is

not coloured by hypocrisy or cowardice, and does not fall

short of any degree of obedience, are the people who are

approved by God, and God says that they are the ones

whose feet are planted firmly on sincerity.

Let him who has ears hear what it is that God desires of

you. It is that you should become wholly His and should

not associate anyone with Him in heaven or in earth. Our

God is the One Who is living today as He was living

before, and Who speaks today as He spoke before, and

hears today as He heard before. It is a false notion that in

this age He hears but does not speak. Indeed, He both

hears and speaks. All His attributes are eternal and ever-

lasting. None of His attributes has fallen into disuse or

will fall into disuse. He is the One without associate Who

has no son and no consort. He is the Peerless One Who

has no equal and like Whom no individual is absolutely

qualified with any quality, and Whose attributes are not

shared by anyone. None of His powers lacks anything.

He is near and yet far and He is far and yet near. He can


manifest Himself in any shape to those who have experi-

ence of visions but He has no body and no shape. He is

above all but it cannot be said that there is anyone below

Him. He is on His throne, but it cannot be said that He is

not on the earth. He combines in Himself all perfect

qualities and is a manifestation of all true praiseworthi-

ness. He is the fountainhead of all excellences and

combines in Himself all powers. All grace originates

with Him and everything returns to Him. He is the Mas-

ter of all kingdoms and possesses every perfect quality.

He is free from every defect and weakness. It belongs to

Him alone that all those on earth and in heaven should

worship Him. Nothing is beyond His power. All souls

and their capacities and all particles and their capacities

are His creation. Nothing manifests itself without Him.

He manifests Himself through His powers and His signs

and we can find Him only through Him. He manifests

Himself always to the righteous and shows them His

powers. That is how He is recognized and that is how the

path is recognized which has His approval.

He sees without physical eyes, hears without physical

ears and speaks without a physical tongue. It is His

function to bring into being from nothingness. As you

see in a dream, He creates a whole world without the

agency of any matter and shows as present that which

is mortal and nonexistent. Such are all His powers.

Foolish is the one who denies His powers and blind is

the one who is unaware of their depth. He does every-

thing and can do everything except that which is

inconsistent with His dignity or is opposed to His

promise. He is one in His Being and His attributes and

His actions and His powers. All doors that lead to Him

are closed except the one door which has been opened


by the Holy Qur’an.

[al-Wasiyyat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 20, pp. 309-311]

All Praise belongs to Allah

Alhamdu lillah. All praise belongs to the True God Who

combines in Himself all perfect attributes and Whose

name is Allah. In the idiom of the Holy Qur’an, Allah is

the name of that perfect Being Who is truly worthy of

worship, combines in Himself all perfect attributes, is

free from all defects, is One without associate and is the

fountainhead of all beneficence. In His Holy Book, God

Almighty has described His name Allah as combining in

itself the attributes of all other names and qualities. No

other name has been given this rank. Thus, the name Al-

lah comprehends all other perfect attributes.

Alhamdu lillah, therefore, means that all types of praise,

overt and covert, relating to personal perfection or relat-

ing to natural wonders, are the characteristic of Allah,

and no one is His associate in them. It also means that all

true praise and perfect qualities, which the wisdom of a

wise one can think of or the reflection of any thinker can

conceive of, are comprehended in God Almighty. There

is no excellence, the possibility of which is vouched for

by reason, of which God Almighty is bereft like an un-

fortunate human being. The wisdom of no wise one can

point to an excellence which is not to be found in God

Almighty. The maximum of all excellences that a person

can conceive of is found in Him. He is perfect from

every point of view in His Being, His attributes and His

good qualities, and He is absolutely free from all defects.

This is a truth which distinguishes a true religion from a

false one.


Defective Concepts of God in Other Religions

A study of all religions would reveal that there is no re-

ligion, other than Islam, which teaches that God

Almighty is absolutely free from all defects and pos-

sesses to the full all praiseworthy qualities.

Concepts of Hindus and Arya Samajists

The average Hindu considers his deities as partners in

Providence and as sharers in God's actions. He even re-

gards them as capable of altering God's designs and of

upsetting His decrees. The Hindus also believe that their

Parmeshwar, at one time or the other, by way of transmi-

gration, was born in the shape of a human being or some

animal even as filthy as swine, and that he became in-

volved in all their ills and vices. In that condition, he was

subject, like others of the species, to hunger and thirst,

pain and hurt, fear and sorrow, disease and death, hu-

miliation and disgrace, and helplessness and weakness.

Thus, it is obvious that such beliefs negate the high quali-

ties of God Almighty and reduce His eternal and

everlasting glory and majesty.

Their brothers, the Arya Samajists, who claim that they

follow the Vedas strictly, deprive God Almighty of the

power of creation. They hold that souls are uncreated and

self-existing like God Himself, whereas reason would

consider it a defect in God Almighty that He should be

the Master of the world and yet should not be the Lord

and Creator of something, and that the life of the world

should not depend upon His support but should be self-

existing. Assume that the following two questions were

to be submitted to sane reason: (i) Is it more appropriate

and in accord with the perfect praiseworthiness of the


All-Powerful God that He should have brought into exis-

tence the whole universe out of His Own perfect power

and should be its Lord and Creator and that the whole of

the universe should be dependent upon His Providence

and that the attribute of creation and its power should be

inherent in His being and that He should not be subject to

birth or death; (ii) Or is it more in accord with His status

that the whole of creation, which is under His control,

should not be created by Him and should not be depend-

ent upon Him for its existence, and that He should not be

its Creator and Lord and should not possess the attribute

of power of creation and He should not be free from the

defects of birth and death.

Reason would never hold that He Who is Master of the

world is not its Creator and that the thousands of wonder-

ful qualities that are found in souls and bodies are self-

existent, and there is no one who created them and that

God Who is called the Master of all is master only in

name. Nor would it hold that God is without power of

creation or is helpless and defective and is given to the

consumption of impure articles, or is subject to death,

pain, suffering, inaction, or ignorance. On the contrary,

reason bears witness that God Almighty should be free

from all these low attributes and defects, and should pos-

sess full perfection. Full perfection demands the

possession of full power. If God Almighty does not pos-

sess full power, is not the Creator of anything and is not

able to safeguard Himself against loss or defect, He

would not have full perfection and by lacking full perfec-

tion He would not be worthy of perfect praise.

The Concept of Christians

This is the case of the Hindus and Aryas. What the Chris-


tians attribute to God Almighty by way of His Glory is a

matter which can be determined by a single question.

God Almighty, Who is Perfect and Eternal and Self-

Sufficient and Non-Dependent, had carried on all His

great works through eternity by Himself. He alone cre-

ated the universe without the aid of a father or son and

bestowed upon souls and bodies all the powers that they

needed and is Himself the Guardian, Supporter and Con-

troller of the universe. He brought into being, through

His attribute of Rahmaniyyat, all that souls and bodies

were to need without waiting for any action on their part,

and created the sun and the moon and numberless stars

and the earth and thousands of bounties contained therein

out of His pure grace, without the assistance of any son.

Then the same Perfect God in the latter days, discarding

all His glory and power, became dependent upon a son to

make provision for the salvation and forgiveness of man-

kind, and that son so inferior as to possess no kind of

similarity to the Father. He did not create like the Father

any portion of heaven or earth which should bear testi-

mony to his godhead. The Gospel of Mark 8.12,

describes his helplessness in the words that he sighed and

said: ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say

to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.’

When he was put upon the cross, the Jews said that if he

would come back to life they would believe in him. But

he did not show them this sign, nor did he prove his god-

head and perfect power in any other way. Such miracles

as he worked had been worked in large numbers by pre-

vious Prophets and even the water of a pond possessed

properties that manifested similar miracles (See chapter 5

of the Gospel of St. John). As he himself confessed, he

was not able to show any sign in support of his godhead.

Allah the Exalted 1

Being born of a frail woman, he, according to the Chris-

tians, underwent such disgrace, humiliation and

helplessness throughout his life, as is the portion of the

unfortunate and deprived ones. He was a prisoner for a

period in the darkness of the womb and was born through

the passage polluted by urine, and passed through every

condition to which the birth of human beings is subject,

and did not escape a single one of them. Then he con-

fessed in his own book, his ignorance, lack of knowledge

and powerlessness and that he was not good. That hum-

ble servant, who was without any reason described as the

son of God, was inferior to some of the major Prophets in

his intellectual attainments and in his actions. His teach-

ing was also imperfect, being only a branch of the Law

of Moses.

How then is it permissible to attribute to the All-

Powerful God, Who is Eternal and Everlasting, this cal-

umny that having been Perfect in His Being, and Self-

Sufficient and All-Powerful, He in the end became de-

pendent upon such a defective son and suddenly lost all

His glory and His greatness? I do not believe that any

wise person would permit such humiliation to be imag-

ined concerning the Perfect Being Who comprehends all

perfect qualities.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, pp. 435-441, footnote 11]

Attributes of God

It needs no argument that the true and perfect God, to

believe in Whom is the duty of every creature, is the

Lord of the worlds. His Providence is not confined to a

particular people, age or country. He is the Sustainer of

all peoples, of all ages, of all places and of all countries.

Allah the Exalted

He is the fountainhead of all grace. Every physical and

spiritual power is bestowed by Him, and the whole uni-

verse is sustained by Him and He is the support of all.

God's grace comprehends all peoples, all countries and

all ages, lest any people should complain that God be-

stowed His bounties upon others, but not upon them, or

that others received a Book from Him for their guidance,

but they did not, or that in other ages He manifested

Himself through His revelation, inspiration and miracles,

but that He remained hidden in their age. By bestowing

His grace upon all He obviated all these objections and

out of His vast qualities He did not deprive any people or

any age of His physical or spiritual bounties.

[Paigham-e-Sulah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 23, p. 442]

Thank for Allah’s Beneficence (Urdu Poem)

O Allah, Maker of things, Concealer of faults, All-

Powerful;

O my Dear, my Benefactor, my Sustainer!

How should I thank You, O Bestower of Great

Favours?

Where can I find the tongue to express my gratitude?

It is entirely Your grace and favour that You have

chosen me;

Otherwise, there was no shortage of humble servants in

Your court.

Those who vowed friendship turned into enemies;

But You did not abandon me, O Fulfiller of all my

needs.

O my Unique Friend, O Refuge of my life,

You alone are sufficient for me; I can’t do anything

without You.

Allah the Exalted

But for Your grace, I would have long been reduced to

dust;

Then Allah knows where this dust would have

scattered.

May my heart and soul and very being be sacrificed in

Your way!

I know of none who loves like You;

Since the beginning, I have been brought up under the

blessed shadow of Your protection;

Like a suckling was I nursed by You.

In no son of man have I found the fidelity that You

have;

Nor have I come across, apart from You, any

compassionate friend.

People say that the unworthy are not accepted;

But despite being unworthy, I have been granted

acceptance in Your court.

So numerous are Your favours and bounties bestowed

upon me;

They will remain uncountable to the Day of Judgement.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, part V, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 21, p. 127]

Two Types of Divine Attributes – Immanent and

Transcendental

God Almighty, in order to bestow perfect understanding

upon His humble creatures, has set out in the Holy

Qur’an two aspects of His attributes. First, He has de-

scribed His attributes metaphorically as resembling some

human qualities. For instance, He is Noble, Merciful, and

Beneficent. He can be angry as well as loving. He has

hands and eyes, legs and ears. He has been creating

throughout eternity, though nothing has been eternally

co-existent with Him. However, species have long ex-

Allah the Exalted

isted and even that is not essential for the operation of

His attribute of creation, for though creation is one of His

attributes, the manifestation of His Unity and Singleness

at certain times is also a part of His attributes. None of

His attributes falls into permanent disuse, but a tempo-

rary cessation of its operation is permissible.

Thus God manifested His attributes of resemblance to

man. For instance, God is Creator, but to some degree,

man also creates or fashions; and man can be called no-

ble for, up to a point, he possesses the quality of nobility;

and man can be called merciful for, up to a point, he pos-

sesses the quality of mercy. He also has the quality of

anger; and he has eyes and ears, etc. This could create a

suspicion in one's mind that man resembles God in re-

spect of these attributes, and God resembles man.

Therefore, God, by contrast, has also mentioned in the

Holy Qur’an His attributes of transcendence, i.e., such

attributes of which man does not partake at all in his be-

ing or in his qualities. God's creation is not like man's

creation, nor is God's mercy like man's mercy, nor is His

wrath like man's anger, nor is His love like man's love,

nor is He in need of space like man.

The Holy Qur’an sets out clearly that in His attributes

God is quite distinct from man. For instance, it is said:

20

Nothing in essence shares its substance or attributes with

God. He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.

At another place it is said:

20 al-Shura, 42:12 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted

21

This means that: True Being and True Existence and all

true qualities belong only to God and that no one is an

associate with Him in respect of them. He alone is alive

in His Being and all others are alive through Him. He

exists in His own Being and everything else exists

through His support. As He is not subject to death so also

He is not subject to even temporary cessation of His

senses like sleep or slumber; but others are subject to

death, sleep and slumber. All that you see in the heavens

or in the earth belongs to Him and manifests itself and

exists through Him. There is no one who can intercede

with Him without His permission. He knows all that is

before or behind people, that is, His knowledge com-

prises that which is manifest and that which is hidden.

No one can encompass any part of His knowledge except

that much which He permits. His power and His knowl-

edge encompass the heavens and the earth. He supports

all and nothing supports Him. He is not wearied by sup-

porting the heavens and the earth. He is above all

weakness and feebleness and lack of power.

Throne of Allah-His Station of Singleness and

Transcendence


22

21 al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher] 22 al-A‘raf, 7:55 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted

Your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the

earth in six periods and then settled Himself on the

Throne.

This means that having created the heavens and the earth

and all that is in them and having manifested His attrib-

utes of resemblance, He then addressed Himself to His

station of transcendence and aloneness, in order to dem-

onstrate His attributes of transcendence which station is

beyond of beyond and is farthest away from creation.

That station which is the highest is called the Throne.

The explanation of this is that in the beginning all crea-

tion was nonexistent and God Almighty manifested

Himself at a station which was beyond of beyond and is

named the Throne, that is a station which is higher than

and above all the worlds. There was nothing except His

Being. Then He created the heavens and the earth and all

that is in them. When creation came into being, He hid

Himself and desired that He should be known through

His creation.

It must be remembered that Divine attributes never fall

into permanent disuse. Except God, no one enjoys eternal

personal existence, but the permanence of species too is

requisite. No Divine attribute falls into permanent disuse,

but there is temporary disuse. As the attribute of creation

and the attribute of destruction are inconsistent with each

other, therefore, when the attribute of destruction comes

into full operation, the attribute of creation falls into dis-

use for a period. In short, in the beginning it was the time

of the operation of the Divine attribute of Singleness and

we cannot say how often this period repeated itself, ex-

cept that it is eternal and without limit. In any case, the

attribute of Singleness has priority in time over other

Allah the Exalted

attributes. That is why it is said that to begin with, God

was alone and that there was no one with Him. Then God

created the heavens and earth and all that is in them and

in that context He manifested His attributes that He is

Noble, Merciful, Forgiving, and Acceptor of repentance.

But he who persists in sin and does not desist is not left

without chastisement. He also manifested His attribute

that He loves those who repent, and His wrath overtakes

only those who do not desist from wrongdoing and dis-

obedience……

Nothing approximates to the Attributes of Allah

All His attributes are appropriate to Him. They are not

like human qualities. His eyes etc. are not physical and

none of His attributes resembles human attributes. For

instance, when a man is angry he suffers from anger him-

self and his heart loses its comfort and perceives a

burning sensation and his brain is oppressed and he un-

dergoes a change; but God is free from all such changes.

His wrath means that He removes His support from one

who does not desist from mischief and, according to His

eternal law, He metes out to him such treatment as a hu-

man being metes out to another when he is angry.

Metaphorically, it is called God's wrath. In the same way,

His love is not like the love of a human being, for a hu-

man being suffers in love also when he is separated from

his beloved. But God is not subject to suffering. His

nearness also is not like the nearness of a human being,

for when a human being approaches near someone he

vacates the space which he had occupied before. But

God, despite being near is far, and despite being far is

near. In short, every Divine attribute is distinct from hu-

man qualities. There is only a verbal resemblance and no

Allah the Exalted 2

more. That is why in the Holy Qur’an Allah the Exalted

says:

23

That is: Nothing approximates to God Almighty in its

being or its qualities.


Permanence of Allah’s Attributes

God will never cease to operate. He is always the Crea-

tor, the Providence, the Sustainer, the Gracious, the

Compassionate and always will be. In my opinion, it is

sinful to debate about the One of such Majesty. God has

not imposed belief in anything which He has not demon-

strated.

[Malfuzat, Vol. IV, p. 347]

As the stars appear stage by stage God's attributes also

appear stage by stage. Man is sometimes under the

shadow of the Divine attributes of Glory and Self-

Sufficiency and sometimes he is under the shadow of His

attributes of Beauty. That is indicated in His saying:

24

It is a foolish notion that after sinful people have been

condemned to hell the Divine attributes of Mercy and

Compassion will cease to operate and will not be mani-

fested, inasmuch as the permanent cessation of the

operation of Divine attributes is not permissible. The

basic attribute of God Almighty is Love and Mercy and

that is the mother of all attributes. It is the same attribute

23 al-Shura, 42:12 [Publisher] 24 ‘Every day He reveals Himself in a new state.’—al-Rahman,

55:30 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted

which sometimes comes into operation in the shape of

the attributes of Glory and Wrath for the purpose of hu-

man reform, and when the reform has been effected then

Love appears in its true form and remains in operation

forever as a bounty. God is not like a short-tempered

person who loves to torment. He wrongs no one, but

people wrong themselves. All salvation lies in His Love

and all torment is to draw away from Him.

[Chashma-e-Masihi, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 20, pp. 369-370]

General Attributes Mentioned in the Holy Qur’an

The attributes of God, to Whom the Holy Qur’an calls

us, are set out as follows:

25

That is, God is One and has no associate: that no one else

is worthy of worship and obedience. He is so described

for if He were not without associate, there would be the

possibility that His associate might overcome Him and

His Godhead would then be put in danger. No one else is

worthy of worship means that He is so perfect and His

attributes and excellences are so high and exalted that, if

out of all existence, a God were to be chosen on account

25 (i)al-Hashr, 59:23 (ii)al-Fatihah, 1:4 (iii)al-Hashr, 59:24 (iv)al-Hashr,

59:25 (v)al-Baqarah, 2:21 (vi)al-Fatihah, 1:2-4 (vii)al-Baqarah, 2:187 (viii)al-Baqarah, 2:256 (ix)al-Ikhlas, 112:2-5. [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 2

of His perfect attributes or if one's mind were to imagine

the best and highest attributes, that God alone would be

the most exalted and none else could be greater than

Him. To associate anyone lower with Him in His wor-

ship would be utterly wrong.

Then He says that He is which means that He

alone has full knowledge of Himself and no one can en-

compass His Being.

We can wholly observe the sun, the moon and every cre-

ated thing, but we are unable to observe God wholly.

Then He says that He is the Knower of the seen. Nothing

is hidden from Him. Being God it could not be presumed

that He was unaware of anything. He observes every

particle of this universe, which a human being cannot do.

He knows when He will destroy this system and set up

the Judgement. No one except Him knows when that will

be. He alone knows all these times.

Then He says: which means that before the

coming into being of creatures and their actions, out of

His pure grace and in consequence of no action of any-

one, He makes provision for the comfort of everyone; as

for instance, He made the sun and the earth and all other

things for our use before any action proceeded from us.

This bounty is called in the Book of God Rahmaniyyat,

and on account of this attribute, God Almighty is called

Rahman.

Then He says: which means that He rewards good

actions with gracious rewards and does not let anyone's

efforts go waste. On account of this attribute, He is called

Rahim and this attribute is called Rahimiyyat.

Then He says: which means that He has in

Allah the Exalted 2

His own hands the recompense of everyone.

He has no agent to whom He has committed the govern-

ance of heaven and earth, having withdrawn Himself

from it, leaving it to the agent to award punishment or

reward.

Then He says: which means that God is the

Sovereign, whose sovereignty is subject to no defect.

It is obvious that human sovereignty is not free from de-

fects. For instance, if the subjects of a human sovereign

were all to leave the country and migrate, his sovereignty

could not be maintained, or if his subjects were afflicted

with famine, he would not be able to recover any reve-

nue; or if his subjects were to dispute with him and

question the basis of his sovereignty, what qualification

for his sovereignty could he put forward? But the sover-

eignty of God is not subject to any of this. In an instant,

He can destroy the whole kingdom and create a new one.

Were He not the Creator and All-Powerful, His sover-

eignty could not be maintained without injustice, for

having forgiven the world once and bestowed salvation

upon it, how could He have obtained another world to

rule? Would He seize upon those who had attained salva-

tion and revoke His salvation tyrannically? In such case,

His Godhead would be called in question and like

worldly sovereigns His sovereignty would prove defec-

tive. Those who make laws for the world fall into

different moods and have recourse to tyranny when they

find that they cannot achieve their selfish purpose with-

out tyranny.

For instance, a law permits that to save a vessel, the oc-

cupants of a boat might be allowed to perish, but God

should not be subject to any such dire necessity. Had

Allah the Exalted 2

God not been All-Powerful, possessing the capacity of

creating from nothing, He would have been compelled

either to have recourse to tyranny or to adhere to justice

and be deprived of His Godhead. The vessel of God car-

ries on with full power and justice.

Then He says: which means that He is Himself se-

cure against all defects and misfortunes and hardships

and bestows security upon His creation. Had he been

subject to misfortunes, for instance, had He been subject

to being killed by people or by being frustrated in His

designs, how would anyone's heart feel secure that God

would save him from misfortunes? The false gods are

described in the Holy Qur’an as follows:

26

Those whom you call gods instead of Allah, cannot cre-

ate even a fly, even if they were all to join hands to do

so; and if a fly were to take away something from them,

they do not have the power to recover it therefrom. Igno-

rant are those who worship them and helpless are those

whom they worship.

Can gods be like this? God has all power above every

other powerful one and He overcomes all. No one can

seize Him or beat Him. Those who fall into such mis-

takes do not rightly estimate God and do not know what

He should be.

Then God is the Bestower of peace and sets forth reasons

in support of His excellences and His Unity. This is an

26 al-Hajj, 22:74-75 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 2

indication that a believer in the True God will not be put

to shame in any company or before God Himself, inas-

much as he is furnished with strong arguments. But a

believer in an artificial god is always in great distress.

Instead of putting forward reasons he describes every

senseless thing as a mystery so that he should not be

laughed at and thus he seeks to hide established errors.

Then He says:

27

God is Guardian over all and Supreme over all. He sets

everything right and is exalted above everything.

Then He says:

28

He is the Creator of body and soul. He gives shape to the

bodies in the womb. All beautiful names that can be con-

ceived of belong to Him.

Then He says:

29

Inmates of the heaven and the earth glorify Him alike.

This verse indicates that there is life on celestial bodies

and that the dwellers therein follow Divine guidance.

Then He says:

30

That is, He has power to do all that He wills, which is a

great reassurance for His worshippers, for if God were

27 al-Hashr, 59:24 [Publisher] 28 al-Hashr, 59:25 [Publisher] 29 al-Hashr, 59:25 [Publisher] 30 al-Baqarah, 2:21 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted

not powerful and were helpless, nothing could be ex-

pected of Him. Then He says:

31

32

He is the Sustainer of all the worlds. He is Gracious,

Merciful and Master of the Day of Judgement, and has

not delegated His power to anyone else.

He hears the call of everyone who calls on Him and re-

sponds to it, that is to say, He accepts prayers.

Then He says: 33 which means that He is the

Ever-Living and All-Sustaining. If He were not Ever-

Living there would be the fear lest He might die before

us.

Then it is said that He is Single, has no father and no son

and no equal and no peer34.

[Islami Usul ki Philosophy, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 10, pp. 372-376]

Four Principal Attributes of Allah

God Almighty has four principal attributes which may be

called the mothers of all attributes. Every one of them

makes a demand upon our humanness. These four are

Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat, Rahimiyyat and Malikiyyat of

the Day of Judgement.

For its manifestation, Rububiyyat demands nothingness,

or a state resembling nothingness. Every form of crea-

tion, whether animate or inanimate, comes into being

through it.

31 al-Fatihah, 1:2-4 [Publisher] 32 al-Baqarah, 2:187 [Publisher] 33 al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher] 34 al-Ikhlas, 112:2-5 [Publisher]

30

Allah the Exalted 3

For its manifestation, Rahmaniyyat demands the absence

of existence and its operation is related only to animates

and not to inanimates.

Rahimiyyat demands for its manifestation an affirmation

of their nothingness and non-existence from the part of

creation which is endowed with reason and relates only

to man.

Malikiyyat of the Day of Judgement demands for its

manifestation humble supplication and pleading and re-

lates only to such of mankind as fall like beggars on the

threshold of Unity and spread forth their mantle of sin-

cerity in order to receive grace and, finding themselves

empty handed, believe in the Malikiyyat of God.

These four attributes are in operation all the time. Of

these Rahimiyyat moves a person to supplication and

Malikiyyat consumes a person in the fire of fear and terror

and gives birth to true humility, for this attribute estab-

lishes that God is the Master of recompense and that no

one has the right to demand anything. Forgiveness and

salvation are through grace.

[Ayyam-us-Sulah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 14, pp. 242-243]

In Surah Fatihah God Almighty has set forth four of His

attributes, namely, Rabb-ul-‘Alamin, Rahman, Rahim and

Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din. The order in which they are men-

tioned is the natural order of these four attributes and

they are manifested in this order. Divine grace is mani-

fested in the world in four types.

The first is the most general grace. This is the absolute

grace which perpetually envelops everything from the

heavens to the earth without distinction of animate or

inanimate. The coming into being of everything from

Allah the Exalted 3

non-existence and its fullest development is through this

grace. Nothing is outside of it. All souls and bodies were

manifested and are manifested through it and all were

developed and are developed through it. This grace is the

very life of the universe. Were it to be withdrawn for an

instant the universe would come to an end; and had it not

been for this grace, there would have been no creation. In

the Holy Qur’an this grace is named Rububiyyat and by

virtue of it God is called Rabb-ul-‘Alamin, as is said at

another place:

35

God is the Rabb of everything.

(Part Number: 8)

Nothing in the universe is devoid of His Rububiyyat. So

the attribute of Rabb-ul-‘Alamin is mentioned first of all

in Surah Fatihah and it is declared:

36

as of all the attributes of grace, this has natural priority,

both because it comes into manifestation before the other

attributes of grace and because it is the most general in

its scope, inasmuch as it comprehends everything

whether animate or inanimate.

The second type of grace is general grace and the differ-

ence between this grace and the one previously

mentioned is that the first one comprehends the whole of

the universe and the second one is a special Divine

bounty which is bestowed upon animates. In other words,

the special attention of the Divine towards living things

35 al-An‘am, 6:165 [Publisher] 36 ‘All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.’—al-Fatihah,

1:2 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 3

is called the general grace. It operates in respect of all

living things according to their needs without their hav-

ing any right or title to it. It is not the consequence of, or

reward for, any action. It is by the blessing of this grace

that every living thing lives, eats, drinks and is safe-

guarded against dangers and has its needs fulfilled.

Through it all the means of life which are needed by

every animate or its species for their own continuance,

are made available. It is the consequence of this grace

that whatever the souls need for their physical develop-

ment has all been provided, and for those who in addition

to physical development are in need of spiritual devel-

opment, that is to say, they possess the capacity for such

development, the Word of God has descended through

eternity at the time of its need.

It is through the operation of this grace of Rahmaniyyat

that man fulfils his millions of needs. He has available to

him the surface of the earth for residence, the sun and the

moon for light, air for breathing, water for drinking, all

varieties of food for eating, millions of medicines for

treatment, a large variety of garments for wearing and

Divine Books for guidance. No one can claim that all this

has been provided through the blessing of his actions,

that he had performed some good action in some previ-

ous existence in consequence of which God has

bestowed these numberless bounties upon mankind. It is

thus established that this grace which is manifested in

thousands of ways for the comfort of all animates is an ex

gratia bounty, which is not bestowed in consequence of

any action but is a manifestation of Divine compassion,

so that every animate should achieve its natural purpose

and all its needs may be fulfilled. By virtue of this grace,

Divine bounty provides for the needs of mankind and all

Allah the Exalted 3

animals and affords them protection so that their capaci-

ties should not remain in the realm of potentiality.

The existence of this Divine attribute is established by the

observation of the law of nature. No reasonable person

would deny that the sun, the moon, the earth, and the ele-

ments, and all other necessary things which are found in

the universe, and upon which the life of all animates de-

pends, are manifested through this grace. The name of this

grace, of which everything that breathes takes advantage

according to its needs, without distinction of man or beast,

believer or non-believer, good or bad, and of which no

animate is deprived, is Rahmaniyyat, and by virtue of it

God has been called Rahman in Surah Fatihah after Rabb-

ul-‘Alamin. The attribute al-Rahman is referred to at sev-

eral other places in the Holy Qur’an. For instance: 37

This means that: When the disbelievers, pagans and athe-

ists are admonished that they should prostrate themselves

before the Rahman, they feel aversion towards the name

Rahman and enquire: What is Rahman? The answer is

that Rahman is the Blessed Being, Who is the perpetual

source of all good and Who has made mansions in the

heaven and has placed the sun and the moon in those

mansions which provide light to the whole creation with-

37 al-Furqan, 25:61-64 [Publisher] 39 al-A‘raf, 7:157 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 3

out distinction of believer and disbeliever. The same

Rahman has made for all mankind day and night which

follow each other so that a seeker of understanding

should draw benefit from this wise arrangement and

should find release from the coverings of ignorance and

indifference and so that he who is eager to be grateful

should render thanks.

The true worshippers of Rahman are those who walk

humbly upon the earth and when the ignorant ones ad-

dress them harshly they reply to them in words of peace

and compassion.

That is to say, they offer kindness in place of harshness,

and in return for abuse, they pray for their revilers and

thus they exhibit gracious qualities, for the Gracious One

bestows the bounties of the sun, the moon, the earth and

other countless favours upon all His creatures regardless

of whether they are good or bad.

In these verses, it has been expounded that the word

Rahman is used for God because His mercy encompasses

all good and bad alike. At another place this mercy has

been referred to in the verse:

39

I inflict My chastisement upon whom I so determine and

My mercy encompasses everything.


40

Tell these disbelievers and the disobedient ones that were

it not for the attribute of Rahmaniyyat, they could not

have averted divine chastisement. In other words, it is by

40 al-Anbiya’, 21:43 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 3

virtue of Rahmaniyyat that He grants respite to the disbe-

lievers and pagans and does not seize them quickly. At

another place Rahmaniyyat is referred to as:

41

(Part Number: 29)

Do they not observe the birds flying above them with

their wings spread out and closed down. It is the Gra-

cious One Who keeps them from falling down.

This means that the grace of Rahmaniyyat so encom-

passes all animates that even birds which seem to have

little value, fly joyously in the current of this grace.

As this grace follows naturally after Rububiyyat, it has

been mentioned in that order in Surah Fatihah.

The third type of grace is special grace. The difference

between this and general grace is that in the case of the

general grace, a beneficiary is not under obligation to

make himself good, or to bring his ego out of the cover-

ings of darkness, or to put forward any effort to take

advantage of it. By virtue of general grace, God Al-

mighty bestows upon every animate all that it needs

according to its nature without asking and without any

effort on its part. But in the case of special grace, striving

and effort, purification of the heart and supplication, at-

tention towards God and all kinds of appropriate efforts

are needed. He alone receives this grace who seeks it and

this grace descends upon one who works for it. The exis-

tence of this grace is also proved by observation of the

law of nature. It is obvious that those who strive in the

cause of God and those who are indifferent cannot be

equal. Without doubt, a special mercy descends upon

41 al-Mulk, 67:20 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 3

people who strive truly in the cause of God and withdraw

from every darkness and disorder. By virtue of this grace,

in the Holy Qur’an, God's name is Rahim. Because the

attribute of Rahimiyyat is special and follows upon the

fulfilment of certain conditions, it is mentioned after

Rahmaniyyat, for Rahmaniyyat was manifested before

Rahimiyyat manifested itself. On account of this natural

order Rahimiyyat is mentioned after Rahmaniyyat in Surah

Fatihah and Allah the Exalted says:

42

This attribute is mentioned at several places in the Holy

Qur’an. For instance, at one place it is said:

43

This means that God's Rahimiyyat is confined to the be-

lievers and that a disbeliever and a rebellious one have

no share in it.

It is worthy of note that the operation of the attribute of

Rahimiyyat has been confined to the case of believers, but

Rahmaniyyat is not so limited. Nowhere is it stated that

God is Rahman towards believers. The mercy which is

specially related to the believers is always described as

Rahimiyyat. At another place it is said:

44

The Rahimiyyat of Allah is close to those who do their

duty to the utmost.


42 ‘The Gracious, the Merciful’—al-Fatihah, 1:3 [Publisher] 43 ‘And He is Merciful to the believers’—al-Ahzab, 33:44 [Publisher] 44 al-A‘raf, 7:57 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 3

45

Those who believed and migrated from their homes or

shed their selfish desires, and strove in the path of Allah

hope for His mercy, for Allah is Most Forgiving, Ever-

Merciful.

This means that His Rahimiyyat is certainly bestowed

upon those who deserve it. There is no one who seeks

Him and does not find Him.

46

The fourth kind of grace is the most special one. This grace

cannot be achieved merely by striving and effort. The

first condition for its manifestation is that this world of

means which is narrow and dark should be demolished

altogether and the full power of the Lord of Unity should

manifest its perfect brilliance nakedly without the intru-

sion of other means. This last degree of grace where all

other graces end, is distinguished from other graces by

being perfect in the sense that it is open and clear and

there is no covertness or deficiency in respect of it. That

is to say, there should be no doubt left with regard to the

determined bestowal of this grace, nor with regard to the

reality and pure and perfect mercy of this grace. The

generosity of and the rewarding by the Eternal Master,

the Bestower of the grace, should appear as bright as the

day. The recipient of this grace should know with cer-

45 al-Baqarah, 2:219 [Publisher] 46 What kind of a lover is he towards whom the Beloved does not

incline?

O my master, what is lacking is pain, for the Physician is available. [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 3

tainty and should feel it as a matter which is patent that

the Master of the kingdom is bestowing a grand bounty,

and great delight upon him by His determination, atten-

tion and special power. And that for his righteous conduct

he is receiving the reward which is perfect and everlast-

ing, most clear and superior, most desirable and loved,

and that there is no aspect of a test or trial involved.

To become the beneficiary of that complete, perfect, last-

ing and superior grace, it is necessary that the person

concerned should be transported to another world from

this defective, opaque, narrow, confined, mortal and

doubtful world, because this grace is an experience of

grand manifestations in which the beauty of the true

Benefactor should be clearly seen and should be experi-

enced as a certainty, so that no stage of manifestation and

certainty should be left out and no veil of material means

should obstruct it. Every detail of complete understand-

ing should come into operation in full force. The

manifestations should be so clear and definite that God

Himself should convey that they are free from every test

and trial. This manifestation should carry with it high and

perfect delights possessing so completely one's heart and

soul and every spiritual and physical faculty to such a

degree as could not possibly be exceeded.

This world which is defective in its essence, clouded in

its appearance, mortal in its being, doubtful in its condi-

tions, and narrow in its extent, cannot bear these grand

manifestations. Pure lights and eternal bounties, and

those perfect rays which are everlasting cannot be con-

tained in it. For this manifestation, another world is

needed which should be wholly free from the darkness of

material means and should be the perfect and pure mani-

Allah the Exalted

festation of the power of the One Supreme Being.

This most special grace is to some degree enjoyed in this

very life by those perfect personalities who tread com-

pletely along the path of truth and, discarding their

selfish designs and desires, lean wholly towards God.

They die before their death, and though they appear to be

in this world, they in truth dwell in the other world. In-

asmuch as they withdraw their hearts altogether from the

material means of this world, breaking away from the

habits of humanness and turning away altogether from

that which is beside Allah, adopt the way which is above

the ordinary. God Almighty treats them in the same way

and, in an extraordinary manner, manifests those lights

for them which in the case of the others are only mani-

fested after death. They experience to some degree this

most special grace in this life.

This is a very special grace and is the ultimate end of all

graces. He who achieves it arrives at the greatest good

fortune and enjoys eternal prosperity which is the foun-

tainhead of all joys. He who is deprived of this grace is

condemned forever to hell. By virtue of this grace, God

Almighty has named Himself Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din in the

Holy Qur’an. The recompense referred to in this juxtapo-

sition is the perfect recompense, the details of which are

set out in the Holy Qur’an. That perfect recompense can-

not be manifested without the manifestation of complete

Mastership. This is referred to at another place where it is

said:

47

This means that: On that day God's Rububiyyat will mani-

47 al-Mu’min, 40:17 [Publisher]

40

Allah the Exalted

fest itself without the intervention of material means and

it will be observed and felt that everything besides the

great power and might of Allah is nonexistent.

Then all comfort and joy, and all reward and punishment,

will appear clearly as coming from God. There will be no

veil in between and there will be no room left for any

doubt. At that time, those who had cut themselves asun-

der from everything for His sake will find themselves in

a state of perfect bliss which will envelope their bodies

and souls, their outside and inside, and no part of their

beings will be deprived of this great good fortune.

Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din also indicates that on that Day com-

fort or suffering and pleasure or pain, whatever is

experienced by man, will proceed directly from God Al-

mighty, and He will be the Master of all conditions. In

other words, meeting with Him or being cut off from

Him will be the cause of eternal good fortune or eternal

misfortune. Those who had believed in Him, adhered to

Unity and had dyed their hearts in His pure love, will

experience the lights of His mercy clearly and openly;

and those who had not achieved faith and love of God

will be deprived of this delight and comfort and will be

involved in painful torment.

….It will thus be seen that the priority given to the at-

tribute Rahman over the attribute Rahim is necessary and

is demanded by the rule of good composition. When the

book of nature is studied, the first attribute of God which

comes to notice is Rububiyyat, then His Rahmaniyyat, and

thereafter His Rahimiyyat and finally His Malikiyyat. Per-

fect composition demands that the order followed in the

book of nature should also be kept in view in the re-

vealed book. To reverse the natural order in composition

41

Allah the Exalted 4

is to reverse the law of nature. For a perfect composition

it is necessary that the order of the composition should be

in such accord with the order of nature as if it were its

photograph in which that which is natural and in fact

prior should be prior in description also. Thus in these

verses the highest eloquence is displayed in which the

natural order is perfectly observed. The verses follow the

order which everyone possessing insight would observe

in the order of the universe. Is this not the straightfor-

ward way that the order in which Divine bounties appear

in the book of nature should be followed also in the Re-

vealed Book? To take exception to such an excellent and

wise order is the characteristic of those blind ones who

have lost at once both their sight and their insight.

48

We revert to the subject and proceed to expound what is

set out in Surah Fatihah from Rabb-ul-‘Alamin to Malik-i-

Yaum-id-Din. As expounded in the Holy Qur’an, it com-

prises four grand verities:

The first verity is that God Almighty is Rabb-ul-‘Alamin,

that is to say, that God is the Rabb and Master of all that

which is in the universe. All that appears, is seen, felt or

perceived by reason, is His creation, and that true exis-

tence belongs only to God Almighty and to nothing else.

In short, the universe with all its components is created

and is the creation of God. There is nothing in the com-

ponents of the universe which is not the creation of God.

48 The eye of the ill-wisher, wherever it lands;

Is prone to see evil even where there is good. [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 4

Through His perfect Rububiyyat God Almighty controls

and rules over every particle of the universe.

His Rububiyyat is in operation all the time. It is not that

after having created the world God has withdrawn from

its control and that He has committed it to the law of

nature so that He Himself does not intervene in any way.

It is not like the maker of a machine who has no concern

with it after it has been made. The creations of the True

Maker are not unconnected with Him. The Rabb-ul-

‘Alamin exercises His perfect Rububiyyat all the time over

the whole universe and the rain of His Rububiyyat falls

perpetually upon the whole universe. At no time is the

universe deprived of the benefit of His grace. Even after

the creation of the universe, that Source of Grace is

needed every moment, without interruption, as if He had

not yet created anything. As the world depended upon

His Rububiyyat for its coming into being, it is equally

dependent upon it for its continuation and sustenance. It

is He Who supports the world every moment and every

particle of the universe is kept fresh and flourishing be-

cause of Him. He exercises His Rububiyyat in respect of

everything by His will and intent. It is not as if His Ru-

bubiyyat were exercised in respect of anything without

His intent. In short, this verity means that everything in

the universe is created and is dependent upon the Rububi-

yyat of God Almighty in respect of all its excellences and

conditions, at all times. There is no spiritual or physical

excellence which any created thing can acquire on its

own without the determination of the Absolute Control-

ler. Besides, it is latent in this and other verities that the

divine attributes, such as Rabb-ul-‘Alamin etc., are special

to Him and that none else is associated with Him in that

respect. The opening phrase of the Surah, namely,

Allah the Exalted 4

Alhamdu lillah, makes it clear that all worthiness of praise

belongs to God alone.

The second verity is Rahman, which follows upon Rabb-ul-

‘Alamin. We have already explained that all animates,

whether gifted with reason or not, good or bad, have

been furnished and continue to be furnished with all that

is needed for their maintenance, preservation of life, and

the continuation of their species out of the general mercy

of God Almighty. This is an absolute bounty that does

not depend upon anyone's actions.

The third verity is Rahim, which follows after Rahman.

This means that, as demanded by His mercy, God Al-

mighty brings about good results in consequence of the

efforts of His creatures. He forgives the sins of those who

repent. He bestows upon those who ask. He opens for

those who knock.

The fourth verity is Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din. This means that

God Almighty is the Master of all perfect recompense

which is free from all test and trial and the intervention

of beguiling means and is purified of all uncleanness and

is free from doubt and defect and is a manifestation of

His great powers. He does not lack the power to make

manifest His perfect recompense, which is as bright as

the day. The manifestation of this grand verity has as its

purpose to make the following matters clear to everyone

as a certainty.

First, that reward and punishment are a certainty, which

are imposed upon His creatures by the True Master as the

result of His special determination. This matter is not

possible of exposition in this world for it is not clear to

the average person why and wherefore does he experi-

ence good or ill, and comfort or pain. No one hears the

Allah the Exalted 4

voice out of whatever he experiences that this is the rec-

ompense of his deeds, nor does anyone observe or feel

that whatever he is passing through is the consequence of

his actions.

Secondly, the exposition is desired that material means

are irrelevant and that it is the Grand Being or God Who

is the fountainhead of all grace and the Master of all rec-

ompense.

Thirdly, it is desired to expound what is great good for-

tune and what is great misfortune. Great good fortune is

that condition of supreme triumph in which light, joy,

pleasure, and comfort encompass the inside and outside,

the body and soul, of a person, and no limb or faculty is

left out. The great misfortune is the torment which, in

consequence of disobedience, impurity, distance and

separation, is set ablaze in the hearts and envelopes the

bodies so that the whole being feels like being on fire and

in hell.

These manifestations cannot be observed in this world

because this narrow, constricted and opaque world,

which puts on the mantle of physical means and is in an

imperfect condition, cannot bear their being made mani-

fest. This world is subject to tests and trials and its

comfort and its pain are both temporary and defective.

Whatever a person experiences in this life is under the

veil of physical means which hide the countenance of the

Master of recompense. Thus this world cannot be the true

and perfect and open day of recompense. The true, per-

fect and open Day of Judgement or of Recompense will

be the world which will follow this one. That world will

be the place of the grand manifestation and of the dem-

onstration of glory and beauty. Whatever hardship or

Allah the Exalted 4

ease, comfort or pain, sorrow or joy, is experienced by

people in this world is not necessarily attributable to

God's bounty or His wrath. For instance, anyone's being

rich is not a conclusive proof that God is pleased with

him, nor is anyone's poverty or privation proof that God

Almighty is displeased with him. Both these are a trial so

that a wealthy one may be tried in respect of his wealth

and a poor one may be tried in respect of his poverty.

These verities are set out in detail in the Holy Qur’an.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, pp. 444-461, footnote 11]

It is well established that of the objects that are visible in

the universe, none is indispensable. For instance, the

earth is spherical and according to the estimate of some,

its diameter is approximately eight thousand miles, but

there is no firm reason why this shape and this bulk

should be essential for it, and why is it not permissible

that it should be of greater or lesser bulk or should have a

different shape. From this it follows that this shape and

bulk, the combination of which constitutes existence, are

not essential for the earth.

In the same way, the existence and continuation of all

things is dispensable. Besides, in many cases circum-

stances come into operation which threaten the

continuation of certain things and yet they are not wiped

out. For instance, despite severe famines and epidemics

from the very beginning, all through the seed of every-

thing has always survived, while reason permits, indeed

it demands, that on account of thousands of hardships

and calamities which have afflicted the world from the

beginning, it should have happened sometime that in

consequence of severe famines, corn which provides

sustenance for humanity should have become non-

Allah the Exalted 4

available, or through the severity of epidemics the human

species should have disappeared, or some species of

animals should have been wiped out, or the machinery of

the sun or the moon might have gone out of order, or of

numberless other things which are necessary for the

proper working of the universe, something might have

got out of order. It is contrary to expectation that millions

of things should escape disorder and disruption and

should not become victims of calamity.

In conclusion, such things whose existence and continua-

tion is not essential in their own right, and whose going

out of order is more of a possibility than their continua-

tion, and their suffering no decline and their coming into

being and continuing in an orderly way, and the contin-

ued availability of billions of things needed in the

universe, are a clear proof that for all of them there is a

Bestower of life, Protector and Sustainer, Who combines

the perfect attributes in Himself. That is to say, He is the

Controller, the Wise, the Gracious, the Compassionate,

Eternal and Ever-Living, free from every defect, not sub-

ject to death or destruction and even free from slumber

and sleep which have a resemblance to death.

He is the Being Who combines in Himself all perfect

attributes, Who brought into being the universe with per-

fect wisdom and appropriateness and chose its existence

in preference to non-existence. He alone, on account of

His perfection, His creation, His Rububiyyat, and His

Self-Existence, is worthy of worship.

This above is the translation of this part of the verse:

Allah the Exalted 4

49

It should be observed with what nicety, dignity, and wis-

dom has the Holy Qur’an in this verse put forth the

reasoning in support of the existence of the Creator of the

universe and in how few words vast meanings and wise

points have been comprehended. For ‘everything in the

heavens and earth’ has established by firm reasoning the

existence of a Creator possessing perfect attributes in

words whose excellence and comprehensiveness have

not been equalled by anything said by a philosopher.

The philosophers of defective intelligence have not been

able to appreciate that souls and bodies were created and

are not eternal, and have remained unaware that true life,

and true existence and true sustenance belong only to

God. This deep understanding can only be learnt from

the verse in which it is stated that true life and eternal

existence belong only to Allah Who combines all perfect

attributes in Himself. Except Him, nothing else enjoys

true existence and true sustenance. This very thing has

been presented as an argument for the need of a Creator

of the universe and it is affirmed:

50

That is to say: As the universe is neither really self-

existing, nor self-subsisting, it does necessarily need an

efficient cause through which it obtained life and con-

tinuation. It is also necessary that that such an efficient

49 ‘Allah—there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting

and All-Sustaining. Slumber seizes Him not, nor sleep. To Him

belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth.’

al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher] 50 ‘To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is

in the earth.’—al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 4

cause should comprehend all perfect attributes and

should control the universe by His will. It should be Wise

and should know the unseen. Verily that is Allah.

In the idiom of the Holy Qur’an, Allah is the name of the

Being Who is comprehensive of all perfect excellences.

That is why in the Holy Qur’an the name Allah is de-

scribed as comprehensive of all perfect attributes and at

various places it is stated that Allah is He Who is Lord of

the worlds, is Gracious and Merciful, controls the uni-

verse by His will, is Wise, Knower of the unseen and

All-Powerful, and is Eternal and Ever-Existing, etc. It is

well established that in the idiom of the Holy Qur’an,

Allah is the name of the Being Who is comprehensive of

all perfect attributes. That is why this verse begins with

the name of Allah and proceeds:

51

That is to say, the Sustainer of this transitory world is a

Being Who encompasses all excellences.

This is an indication that it is a wrong notion that in this

universe, which exhibits such perfect orderliness, some

things can be the originating cause of others. On the con-

trary, for this wise project, a Creator is needed Who

should exercise control by His will and should be Wise,

All-Knowing, Ever-Merciful, Immortal and encompass

the perfect attributes. It is Allah alone Who possesses

perfection in His Being.

After establishing the existence of the Creator of the uni-

verse, it was necessary to impress upon a seeker after

truth that that Creator is free from every kind of associa-

tion. This was indicated by:

51 al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted

52

It should be observed how concisely in this brief state-

ment the Being of the Creator has been shown to be free

from every kind of association. Association can be of

four types. It could be in respect of number, rank, de-

scent, or action and effect. In this Surah, it has been

declared that God is free from association of all these

types. It has been made clear that He is the One in num-

ber and is not two or three; He is the Besought of all; He

alone is Self-Existing while everything else is contingent

and mortal and is ever dependent upon Him; and He is

which means that He has no son who can claim to

be His partner; and He is which means that he has

no father to share His power; and He is

which means that no one can be His equal in His works

to claim partnership with Him on this account. Thus, it

has been made clear that God Almighty is free from as-

sociates of any of the four types and is One, without

associate.

Then the Holy Qur’an sets forth an argument in support

of His being One, without associate, by stating:

53

54

That is, had there been any other god beside the One

Who combines in Himself all perfect attributes, both

heaven and earth would have been corrupted. Since it

was inevitable that at times this plurality of gods would

52 ‘Say, He is Allah, the One; Allah, the Independent and Besought

of all….’—al-Ikhlas, 112:2-5 [Publisher] 53 al-Anbiya’, 21:23 [Publisher] 54 al-Mu’minun, 23:92 [Publisher]

50

Allah the Exalted 5

have acted against one another, and their differences

would have resulted plunging the universe into chaos,

each one of them would have worked for the welfare of

his own creation; for whose comfort, he would have con-

sidered it permissible to destroy others. This too would

have led to chaos.

Then it is stated:

55 . . .

This means that those who deny the existence of God are

told that now that they are being pressed hard by the ar-

guments in support of Islam and its glory and power,

they should call for help on those whom they claim to be

the associates of God. They will then know that they will

not be able to remove any affliction from them, nor to

bring about any change favourable to them.

‘Tell these pagans, O Prophet: Call those whom you

worship besides Allah, to help you against me. Do what-

ever you can to defeat me and give me no respite. Bear in

mind that my Supporter and Helper is the God Who has

revealed the Holy Qur’an. He alone is the help and suc-

cour of His true and righteous Messengers. Those from

whom you seek help are neither able to help you nor can

they help themselves.

Then the Holy Qur’an proceeds to establish through the

law of nature that God is free from every defect and

shortcoming:

56

The seven heavens and the earth and those that are

55 Bani Isra’il, 17:57 [Publisher] 56 Bani Isra’il, 17:45 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 5

therein celebrate His praise; and there is not a thing but

glorifies Him with His praise, but you do not understand

their glorification.

This means that reflection upon the heavens and the earth

would show that God is Perfect and Holy and is without

sons or associates, but that this would be realized only by

those who possess understanding. It is also stated:

57

This means that: Some people say that God has taken

unto Himself a son whereas to be dependent upon a son

is a deficiency and God is free from every deficiency. He

is Self-Sufficient and Independent, Who needs no one.

To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth.

Do you charge Him with something of which you have

no knowledge? Why should He be dependent upon sons?

He is Perfect and is alone Sufficient to carry out the obli-

gations of Godhead and needs no other instrument.

Some people say God has daughters whereas He is free

from all these deficiencies. Do you claim sons for your-

selves and assign daughters to Him? This is not a fair

division.58

O People! Worship God, the One without associate, Who

created you and your forebears. You should fear the

Powerful and Mighty One Who has spread out the earth

for you as a bed and raised the heaven for you as a can-

opy, and by sending water from the heaven created all

types of fruits for your sustenance. So do not deliberately

appoint associates for God those things which have been

57 Yunus, 10:69 [Publisher] 58 al-Najm, 53:22-23 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 5

created for your benefit59.

God is One, Who has no associate. He is God in heaven

and God on earth60.

He is the First and the Last and He is the Manifest and

the Hidden61.

Eyes are not able to probe into His reality and He knows

the reality of the eyes62.

He is the Creator of everything and nothing is like unto

Him. It is a clear argument in support of His being the

Creator, that He has created everything according to a

measure and has fixed its parameter limits63, which

proves the existence of the Measurer and Limiter. He is

proved worthy of all praise and is the only true Benefac-

tor in this world and the next. All command belongs to

Him and everything returns to Him.

God will forgive every sin for whomsoever He wills, but

He will not forgive Shirk—associating anything with

Him.64

Let him who hopes to meet his Lord work righteousness

and let him associate no one in the worship of his Lord65.

Associate not anything with God. It is a great sin66.

Do not ask any favours from anyone except God. Every-

thing will perish except Him. His is the command and to

59 al-Baqarah, 2:22-23 [Publisher] 60 al-Zukhruf, 43:85 [Publisher] 61 al-Hadid, 57:4 [Publisher] 62 al-An‘am, 6:104 [Publisher] 63 al-Furqan, 25:3 [Publisher] 64 al-Nisa’, 4:49 [Publisher] 65 al-Kahf, 18:111 [Publisher] 66 Luqman, 31:14 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 5

Him is your return67.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, pp. 515-521, sub-footnote 3]

God's Beauty and Beneficence

God's law of nature and the book of nature, which have

been in existence since the creation of man, teach us that

to establish a strong relationship with God it is necessary

to have experienced His Beneficence and His Beauty. As

pointed out before, by beneficence is meant instances of

the moral qualities of God Almighty which a man might

have personally experienced in his own being. For in-

stance, God may have become his Guardian when he was

helpless and weak and an orphan. Or God may have ful-

filled his need at a time of want; or God may have helped

him at a time of great sorrow; or God may have guided

him without the intervention of a preceptor or guide in

his search after God.

By His beauty are also meant His attributes which appear

in the guise of beneficence, for instance, His perfect

Power or His Tenderness or His Kindness or His Rububi-

yyat or His Compassion, or His general Rububiyyat and

those common bounties which are available in large

numbers for the comfort of man. There is also His

knowledge which a person obtains through Prophets and

thereby saves himself from death and ruin. Also His at-

tribute that He hears the supplications of the restless and

fatigued ones. Also His excellence that He inclines to-

wards those who incline towards Him, even more so. All

this is comprised in God's Beauty. The very same attrib-

utes when they are experienced by a person become His

Beneficence with reference to him, though they are only

67 al-Qasas, 28:89 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 5

His Beauty with reference to others.

When a person experiences in the shape of Beneficence

those Divine attributes which constitute His Beauty his

faith is strengthened beyond measure and he is drawn

towards God as iron is drawn towards a magnet. His love

for God increases manifold and his trust in God becomes

very strong. Having experienced that all his good is in

God, his hopes in God are strengthened. He continues to

incline towards God naturally, without pretence and af-

fectation, and finds himself dependent upon God's help

every moment and believes firmly through the contem-

plation of Divine attributes that he will be successful,

because he has experienced in his own person many in-

stances of God's grace, favour and generosity. Therefore,

his supplications proceed from the fountain of power and

certainty and his resolve becomes extremely firm and

unshakable.

In the end, having observed Divine favours and bounties,

the light of certainty enters with great force into him and

his ego is altogether consumed. On account of the fre-

quent contemplation of the greatness and power of God,

his heart becomes the House of God. As the human soul

never leaves his body while a person is alive, in the same

way, the certainty that enters into him from God, the

Mighty and Glorious, never leaves him. The Holy Spirit

surges inside him all the time and he speaks under the

instruction of this very Spirit. Verities and insights flow

out of him and the tent of the Lord of Honour and Maj-

esty is ever set in his heart. The delight of certainty,

sincerity and love flows through him like water whereby

every limb of his is nourished. His eyes exhibit the

brightness of nourishment and his forehead reveals its

Allah the Exalted 5

light. His countenance appears as if it had been washed

by the rain of Divine love and his tongue partakes fully

of this freshness. All his limbs exhibit a brightness, as

after a spring shower an attractive freshness is revealed

in the branches, leaves, flowers and fruits of trees.

The body of a person on whom this spirit has not de-

scended and who has not been refreshed by it is like a

corpse. This freshness and joyousness cannot be de-

scribed in words and can never be acquired by the dead

heart which has not been refreshed by the fountain of the

light of certainty. On the contrary, it stinks. But the one

who has been bestowed this light, and inside whom this

fountain has burst forth, exhibits as one of his signs that

all the time and in everything, in every word and in every

action, he receives power from God. This is his delight

and his comfort and he cannot live without it.

[Review of Religions-Urdu, Vol. I, pp. 186-187]

Perfect praise is offered for two kinds of excellences,

fullness of beauty and fullness of beneficence. If anyone

possesses both these excellences, one's heart becomes

enamoured of him. The principal function of the Holy

Qur’an is to display both these excellences of God, so

that people may be drawn towards that Being Who has

no equal or like, and should worship Him with the eager-

ness of their souls. For this purpose, in the very first

chapter, it sets out the excellences of the God to Whom it

invites people. That is why this chapter opens with

Alhamdu lillah, which means that all praise belongs to the

Being Whose name is Allah. In the idiom of the Qur’an,

Allah is the name of the Being Whose excellences have

reached the perfection of beauty and beneficence, and

Who suffers from no deficiency. The Holy Qur’an in-

Allah the Exalted 5

vests the name of Allah with all attributes and thus indi-

cates that Allah comprehends all perfect attributes. As He

comprises every excellence, His beauty is obvious. By

virtue of this beauty, He is named Light in the Holy

Qur’an as is said:

68

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

This means that all light is but a reflection of His light.

Almighty Allah’s Attributes of Beneficence

Divine qualities of beneficence are many, of which four

are basic. In their natural order, the first one is that which

is described in Surah Fatihah as Rabb-ul-‘Alamin. This

means that the Rububiyyat of God Almighty, that is to

say, the creation and carrying to perfection of the uni-

verse, is in operation all the time. The world of heaven

and earth, the world of bodies and souls, the world of

animals, vegetables and minerals, and all other worlds,

are being nurtured by His Rububiyyat. The worlds

through which a human being passes before his taking

shape as a sperm till his death, or his arrival in his second

life, are all nourished from the fountain of Rububiyyat.

Thus Divine Rububiyyat, because it comprehends all

souls, bodies, animals, vegetables, and minerals etc. is

named the most general grace, inasmuch as everything

that exists is its recipient and comes into being through it.

Although Divine Rububiyyat is the originator of every-

thing that exists, and nourishes and sustains it, yet its

greatest beneficiary is man because he derives benefit from

the whole of creation. Therefore, man has been reminded

that his God is Rabb-ul-‘Alamin so that he should be en-

68 al-Nur, 24:36 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 5

couraged to believe that the power of God Almighty is

vast and that for man's benefit He can bring into being all

types of resources.

The second excellence of God Almighty, which is His be-

neficence in the next degree and which is called general

grace, is Rahmaniyyat, by virtue of which God is named

Rahman in Surah Fatihah. In the idiom of the Holy

Qur’an, God Almighty is called Rahman because He be-

stowed upon every living thing, which includes man, its

appropriate shape and qualities. That is to say, man was

bestowed all faculties and powers and was given a shape

and limbs which were needed by the type of life which

had been designed for him and to which they were suited.

Whatever was needed for his maintenance was provided.

Birds, animals and man were all bestowed powers that

were suited to them. Thousands of years before their

coming into being, God Almighty by virtue of His attrib-

ute of Rahmaniyyat, created the heavenly and earthly

bodies so that all living things might be safeguarded. No

one's action has anything to do with the Rahmaniyyat of

God Almighty. It is pure mercy which came into opera-

tion before the coming into being of living things. Man is

the principal beneficiary of the Rahmaniyyat of God Al-

mighty, inasmuch as everything is sacrificed for his

success. Therefore, he is reminded that God is Rahman.

The third excellence of God Almighty, which is His be-

neficence in the third degree, is Rahimiyyat, by virtue of

which God has been named Rahim in Surah Fatihah. In

the idiom of the Holy Qur’an, God is called Rahim when

accepting the prayers, supplications and righteous actions

of people, He safeguards them against calamities, misfor-

tunes and waste of effort. This beneficence is described

Allah the Exalted 5

as special grace and is confined to human beings. Other

things have not been bestowed the faculty of prayer and

supplication and righteous action, but man has been be-

stowed this faculty. Man is an articulate animal and can

be the recipient of Divine grace through the exercise of

his faculty of speech. Other things have not been be-

stowed this faculty. It is obvious, therefore, that

supplication is a quality of humanness, which is inherent

in man's nature.

Man derives grace from the Divine attribute of Rahimiy-

yat as he derives from the attributes of Rububiyyat and

Rahmaniyyat; the only difference is that Rububiyyat and

Rahmaniyyat do not demand supplication as they are not

confined to man and bestow their grace upon all living

things, and indeed Rububiyyat comprises within itself

beneficence towards animals, vegetables, minerals and

heavenly and earthly bodies. Nothing is outside the op-

eration of its grace. As a contrast, Rahimiyyat is a special

robe of honour for man. If man does not derive benefit

from this attribute, he reduces himself to the condition of

animals, nay, even of minerals.

The operation of Rahimiyyat having been confined to

man, and supplication being needed for bringing it into

operation, it shows that there is a type of Divine grace

which is conditioned upon supplication and cannot be

achieved without supplication. This is the way of Allah

and is a definite law the contravention of which is not

permissible. That is why all Prophets [peace be on them]

supplicated for their followers. The Torah reveals that on

many occasions the children of Israel offended God

Almighty and were about to be chastised, but the chas-

tisement was averted by the prayers, supplications and

Allah the Exalted

prostrations of Moses [peace be on him] though time

after time God announced that He would destroy Israel.

All this shows that prayer is not in vain, nor is it a type of

worship which does not procure any grace. This is the

thinking of those who do not estimate God Almighty as

He should be estimated, and who do not reflect deeply on

God's words nor do they observe the law of nature. The

truth is that grace does certainly descend in response to

supplication and bestows salvation upon us. It is the

grace of Rahimiyyat through which man makes progress.

Through this grace, man arrives at the stage of Vilayat,

and believes in God Almighty as if he was beholding Him.

Intercession also depends upon the attribute of Rahimiy-

yat. It is Rahimiyyat of God Almighty that demands that

good people should intercede for bad people.

The fourth beneficence of God Almighty, which might be

named most special grace, is Malikiyyat of the Day of

Judgement, by virtue of which He has been named Malik-

i-Yaum-id-Din in Surah Fatihah. The difference between

this attribute and Rahimiyyat is that through prayer and

worship Rahimiyyat operates to establish a person's wor-

thiness and through Malikiyyat the reward is awarded.

Through the operation of Rahimiyyat, a person deserves

success in an affair like a student's passing an examina-

tion, but to be awarded the rank or other object for which

the examination was undertaken and passed is by virtue

of the attribute of Malikiyyat. These two attributes indi-

cate that the beneficence of Rahimiyyat is achieved

through God's mercy and the favour of Malikiyyat is

achieved through the grace of Almighty God. Malikiyyat

would manifest itself on a vast and perfect scale in the

hereafter, but in accordance with the measure of this

60

Allah the Exalted 6

world, all these four attributes manifest themselves in

this world as well.

[Ayyam-us-Sulah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 14, pp. 247-251]

The Will and Power of God

God Almighty operates in this world in three capacities:

one, in the capacity of God; two, in the capacity of a

friend; and three, in the capacity of an enemy. His treat-

ment of His average creatures proceeds from His

capacity as God and His treatment of those who love

Him and whom He loves, proceeds not only in His ca-

pacity as God, but also predominantly in His capacity of

a friend. The world feels that God is supporting the per-

son concerned like a friend. His treatment of His enemies

is characterized by painful chastisement and such signs

as indicate clearly that God Almighty is the enemy of

that people or that person. Sometimes God tests a friend

of His by making the whole world his enemy and for a

time subjects him to their tongues and their hands, but He

does not do this because He desires to destroy His friend,

or to disgrace or humiliate him. He does this so that He

might show His sign to the world and so that His imper-

tinent opponents should realize that despite their utmost

efforts they were not able to harm the person concerned.

[Nuzul-ul-Masih, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 18, pp. 517-518]

In the Holy Qur’an, the attributes of God Almighty are

mentioned in the subjective and not in the objective. For

instance, He is Holy, but He has not been described as

safeguarded, because then it would have to be supposed

that there was someone to safeguard Him.

[Malfuzat, Vol. IV, p. 119]

Our God has power over everything. They are false who

Allah the Exalted 6

say that He created neither souls nor the particles of the

body. They are unaware of God. We witness His new

creation every day and He ever breathes a new spirit of

progress into us. Had He not the power to bring into be-

ing from nothing that would have been the death of us.

Wonderful is He Who is our God. Who is there like unto

Him? Wonderful are His works. Who is there whose

works are like His? He is Absolute Power.

[Nasim-e-Da‘wat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, p. 435]

The real cause of worship of other deities and of belief in

the doctrine of transmigration of souls is the denial of

Divine attributes and considering God Almighty as dis-

abled from exercising complete control over the

universe. Since God’s wise and just attributes were sup-

posed to have been suspended, other deities were

invented for seeking fulfilment of needs, and natural

changes and upsets were described as the consequence of

deeds done in a previous existence. Thus, transmigration

of souls and the worship of other deities resulted from

this one fundamental mistake.

[Shahna-e-Haqq, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 407-408]

Through His Might, does God prove His existence;

This is how He unveils His invisible countenance.

Whatever God wills and is pleased to announce;

Cannot be averted, for such is the power of God.

[Announcement dated 5 August 1885, Majmu‘a Ishtiharat, Vol. 1, p. 143]

Our God possesses many wonders, but they are visible

only to those who become His out of sincerity and loy-

alty. He does not disclose His wonders to those who do

not believe in His Power and who are not sincere and

loyal to Him. How unfortunate is the man who does not

know that he has a God Who has power to do all that He

Allah the Exalted 6

wills.

[Kashti Nuh, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, p. 21]

His powers are unlimited and His wonders are without

end. For His special servants He can even change His

law, but even that changing is part of His law. When a

person falls at His threshold with a new spirit and carries

out a change in himself, only to win His pleasure, God

also makes a change for such a one so that the God Who

appears to him is quite a different God from the One

known to the average person. God appears weak to a

person whose faith is weak, but to him who appears be-

fore God with a strong faith, He shows that for his help

He too is Strong. Thus in response to changes in man

there are changes in Divine attributes. For him who is

without any strength in his faith as if he is dead, God also

withdraws His help and support and becomes silent, as if,

God forbid, He had died. But all these changes He carries

out within His law and in accord with His Holiness. No

one can set a limit to His law. Therefore, to assert hastily

that such and such a matter is contrary to natural law

without any conclusive reason, which is bright and self-

evident, would be mere folly, for no one can argue on the

basis of something whose limits have not yet been de-

fined and who cannot be the subject of conclusive

reasoning.


If God is not believed in as All-Powerful, all our hopes

would be frustrated. The acceptance of our prayers is

dependent upon the belief that when God wills He can

create in the particles of the body or in the soul powers

that they may not possess. For instance, we pray for the

recovery of a person who is ill and he appears likely to

Allah the Exalted 6

die. Then we supplicate that God may create in the parti-

cles of his body a strength that should save him from

death. We observe that very often such supplication is

accepted. In many cases, we are at first intimated that a

certain person is about to die, and that his powers of life

are at an end. But when our supplication reaches its cli-

max and its intensity becomes poignant and painful, we

seem to arrive at the point of death, then it is revealed to

us by God that the powers of life have been revived in

the person concerned. Then suddenly he begins to show

signs of health as if he was dead and has come to life. I

remember that at the time of the plague I supplicated: O

Mighty and Powerful God, safeguard us against this ca-

lamity and create in our bodies an antidote which should

save us from the poison of the plague. Then God Al-

mighty created that antidote in us and said: ‘I shall

safeguard you against death by plague and all those who

dwell within your house and are not arrogant’, that is to

say, those who are not disobedient to God and are right-

eous would all be saved. God also said that Qadian

would be safeguarded, that is to say, Qadian would not

be destroyed by the plague like many other villages.

This is what we all saw, and we observed the fulfilment

of all these things…. Thus our God creates new powers

and qualities in the particles of the body. Having been

reassured by God the Perfect, we avoided the human

precaution of inoculation against the plague. Many of

those inoculated died, but we are, by the Grace of God

Almighty, still alive. Thus does God Almighty create

particles as He created particles in our bodies by way of

antidote. He also creates souls as He breathed into me a

pure soul by which I came alive. We need not only that

He should create the soul and revive our body, but our

Allah the Exalted 6

soul also needs another soul which should revive it. Both

these souls are created by God. He who has not grasped

this mystery is unaware of God's Powers and is heedless

of God.

[Nasim-e-Da‘wat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, pp. 390-391]

Limitless Manifestation of God's Attributes

God's Divinity and Godhead is related to His unlimited

power and countless mysteries which man cannot confine

within the limits of law. For the recognition of God, it is

an important and fundamental principle that the Powers

and Wisdom of God the Glorious are unlimited. By un-

derstanding this principle and reflecting deeply upon it

everything becomes clear and one is able to see the

straight path of the recognition of Truth and the worship

of Truth.

We do not deny that God Almighty always operates in

accordance with His eternal attributes, and it would not

be improper if we were to call this acting according to

eternal attributes by the name of Divine law. What we

question is whether acting in accordance with those eter-

nal attributes, or in other words, the eternal Divine law,

should be regarded as limited and defined. We believe

that the effects of the attributes, which are part of God's

Being and are unlimited, are manifested at their appro-

priate times and nothing occurs outside of them and those

attributes affect all creation in heaven and earth. The

effects of these attributes are called the way of Allah or

the law of nature; but because God Almighty, along with

His perfect attributes, is Unlimited and Endless, it would

be folly on our part to claim that the effects of those at-

tributes, that is to say, the laws of nature, do not extend

beyond our experience, intelligence or observation.

Allah the Exalted 6

It is a great mistake on the part of those who are philoso-

phically inclined that they first regard the law of nature

as something which has been completely defined and

then they refuse to accept anything new which they en-

counter. It is obvious that this attitude is not well

founded. Had this been true no way would have been left

open to accept anything new and it would have become

impossible to discover new things, for in such a case

everything new would appear to contravene the laws of

nature and one would have to reject it which would mean

the rejection of a new truth. A contemplation or the lives

of the philosophers would show along how many tracks

their thinking has proceeded and how often they have

shame-facedly discarded one view in favour of another,

and having held for a long time that something was con-

trary to the law of nature and having denied it, they in the

end accepted it remorsefully. What was the cause of this

change? It was that what they had adhered to at one time

was a doubtful thing which was falsified by new experi-

ence. As new experiences came to light their thinking

went on changing in accordance with them. Their think-

ing has been guided by new experiences and yet even

now there is a good deal which is hidden from their view

and concerning which it is to be hoped that, after stum-

bling and passing through diverse humiliations they

would in the end accept it.

The laws of nature are not so firm within the ambit of

human reason that they should exclude new research.

Can any reasonable person imagine that in the school of

this world, man, despite his short age, has completed his

knowledge of eternal mysteries, and that his experience

of Divine wonders has become so comprehensive that

whatever falls outside this experience is outside the

Allah the Exalted 6

Power of God Almighty? It is only a shameless and fool-

ish one who would entertain any such idea. Those

philosophers who were truly good and wise and whose

thinking was inspired by spiritual values have confessed

that their thinking, which was limited and tentative,

could not become the means of discovering and recog-

nizing God and His limitless secrets and wisdom.

It is an established truth that everything contains within

itself a quality which continues to be affected by the lim-

itless powers of God Almighty. This shows that the

qualities of things are limitless whether we come to know

of them or not. If all philosophers, ancient and modern,

were to employ their intellectual capacities till the Day of

Judgement in discovering the qualities of a grain of

poppy seed, no reasonable person would believe that they

would comprehend completely all those qualities. Thus

there is nothing more foolish than to think that the quali-

ties of heavenly and earthly bodies are limited to those

which have so far been discovered through astronomy or

physics.

In short, the law of nature is something which cannot

withstand an established truth. The law of nature means

such Divine action which was manifested or might be

manifested in a natural way, but God Almighty has not

tired of manifesting His Powers nor has He become dis-

abled from doing so, nor has He gone to sleep, nor has

He moved away into a corner, nor has He been overpow-

ered and has under compulsion ceased manifesting His

wonders, leaving us only His actions during a few centu-

ries. Reason, wisdom, philosophy, literature and

education all demand that we should not confine the

body of natural law to the few demonstrated phenomena

Allah the Exalted 6

of which hundreds of details are still to be discovered

and we should not foolishly insist that the action of God

Almighty cannot go beyond what we have already ob-

served….

I wonder how can such things as are still awaiting a

complete explanation of themselves, be the absolute

measures of truth or be the criteria for judging it. This

complicated problem has confused the philosophers so

much that some of them, namely the Sophists, have de-

nied altogether the qualities of matter, and some of them

have asserted that though the qualities of matter are ad-

mitted yet they lack permanence. Water puts out fire, but

it is possible that under some heavenly or earthly effect

the water of a spring might lose this quality. Fire burns

wood, but it is possible that some fire, by reason of some

inner or outer effect, might not exhibit this quality. Such

wonders continue to happen from time to time.

Philosophers have also said that certain heavenly or

earthly qualities are manifested after thousands or hun-

dreds of thousands of years. They appear supernatural to

the uninitiated. Sometimes wonders occur in the heavens

or on earth which confound great philosophers. They are

driven to invent some law of physics or astronomy to

accommodate them so that their law of nature may not be

upset. So long as no flying fish had been observed, no

philosopher admitted its existence. So long as through

the process of continuously cutting off the tails of some

dogs, tailless dogs were not produced, no philosopher

admitted this possibility. So long as it was not discovered

that in consequence of a severe earthquake in some

place, a fire had started which melted stones but did not

burn wood, philosophers considered such a quality as

Allah the Exalted 6

contrary to the law of nature. So long as an aspirator was

not invented, which philosopher knew that transfusion of

blood was part of the law of nature? Could anyone name

a philosopher who admitted the possibility of machines

being run with electricity before electricity was discov-

ered?….

‘Allamah Shareh Qanun, who was both an eminent phy-

sician and a learned philosopher, has recorded in his

book that among the Greeks it was generally known that

some chaste and righteous women gave birth to children

without consorting with a male. He expresses his own

view that all these incidents cannot be rejected as false as

they could not have been invented without some factual

basis.... He has recorded that although all human beings

are of one species and as such they are all alike, yet some

of them, in rare cases, are endowed with certain high

abilities which are not matched among the rest of their

contemporaries.

It has been established that in modern times there have

been cases in which a person has attained the age of more

than three hundred years, which is most extraordinary.

Some have been endowed with memories or eyesight of

so perfect a nature as is not equalled in anyone of their

contemporaries. Such people are rare and appear once in

a while after hundreds and thousands of years. As the

common people have in mind only that which happens

on a large scale and frequently they are apt to regard that

as the law of nature, that which is rare is looked upon

with doubt and is considered false.

The mistake philosophers make is that they fail to make

research into that which is rare of occurrence and get rid

of it by describing it as mere tales and stories. It is the

Allah the Exalted

eternal way of Allah that occasionally He manifests rare

wonders along with that which is of common occurrence.

There are many instances of this, but it would take too

long to set them down. Hippocrates, in one of his books

of medicine, has mentioned certain cases known to him

of people who were suffering from diseases which, ac-

cording to the laws of medicine and the experience of

physicians, were not susceptible of treatment and who

yet recovered their health. Concerning these cases, he has

noted that their recovery was due to some rare heavenly

or earthly effects.

We wish to add that this phenomenon of common occur-

rence and rare occurrence is not confined to man alone, but

is to be discovered among other species also. For instance,

Ak—swallow wort—is bitter and poisonous, but sometimes

after a long period, it produces a vegetable which is very

sweet and delicious. A person who has never seen it and

has always associated swallow wort with extreme bitter-

ness, is bound to regard the new vegetable we have

mentioned, as a contravention of the law of nature. In the

same way, among other species also, after a long time, a

rare quality is manifested. A short while ago, in Muzaffar-

garh a he-goat was found which yielded milk like a she-

goat. When this became generally known in the town, Mr.

Macauliffe, the Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffargarh,

sent for the he-goat deeming it contrary to the law of nature

that it should be yielding milk. When the he-goat was

milked in his presence it yielded about three pints of milk....

Three serious-minded, trustworthy and respectable gentle-

men testified before me that they had seen some men who

yielded milk like women…. Some people have observed a

female silkworm laying eggs without the intervention of a

male, these eggs were hatched in the normal manner. Some

70

Allah the Exalted 7

people have seen a rat emerging from dry clay with half its

body still as clay. A physician Qarshi or ‘Allamah (Shareh

Qanun) has recorded that he had seen a patient whose ear

had ceased to function and he had become deaf. Later, a

sore appeared below his ear in which there was a hole

through which he could hear. In this way God bestowed

another ear upon him....

Galen was asked: Can a man ever hear with his eyes? He

answered: Present experience does not support this, but it

is possible that there might be a hidden relationship be-

tween ears and eyes which as a result of an operation or

through some heavenly intervention might manifest itself

in this form, because the knowledge of the qualities of

bodies is not yet complete.

Dr. Bernier, in his journal describing the ascent of Pir Panjal in Kashmir, has mentioned a strange incident at

page 80 of his book, that at one place they saw a big

black scorpion which had emerged from under a rock,

which was taken up by a young Moghul of his acquaint-

ance and he passed it on to Dr. Bernier and a servant of

his, but it did not bite any of them. The young Moghul

stated that he had pronounced a verse of the Holy Qur’an

upon it and that in this manner he often seized scorpions

which proved harmless. The author of Futuhat and Fusus, who is a well-known and learned philosopher and mystic,

has written in his book that on one occasion at his house

there was a discussion between a philosopher and an-

other person with regard to the burning property of fire.

In the course of the discussion, the other person took

hold of the philosopher's hand and thrust his own hand

and the philosopher's hand into a charcoal fire which was

burning in a stove and kept them there for a while. Fire

Allah the Exalted7

did no harm to the hand of either of them. I myself saw a

dervish, who on a very hot day would recite the verse:

69

and would seize hold of a wasp and be immune to its

sting. I have also experienced some wonderful effects of

verses of the Holy Qur’an, which display the wonders of

the Power of God, the Glorious. In short, this museum of

the world is filled with numberless wonders. Wise and

noble philosophers have never taken pride in their lim-

ited knowledge and they have considered it a shameless

impertinence to call their limited experience by the name

of God's law of nature....

Can one set a limit to the Powers of the One Who has

created this splendid heaven which is ornamented with

the sun, the moon, and the stars, and has created this

earth which is the envy of gardeners and which is peo-

pled by diverse types of creatures, without the least

effort, only by the exercise of His will?

[Surmah Chashm Arya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 90-101]

Creation and the Words of God

It is a mystery of Rububiyyat that creation comes into

being by God's words. This may be understood as mean-

ing that creation is the reflection of God's words or that

God's words themselves, by Divine Power, take on the

shape of creation. The words of the Holy Qur’an are sus-

ceptible of both interpretations. At some places in the

Holy Qur’an that which has been created is called the

words of Allah, which, having acquired new qualities

69 ‘And when you lay hands upon any one, you lay hands as ty-

rants.’—al-Shu‘ara’, 26:131 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 7

and characteristics by Divine Power through the manifes-

tations of Rububiyyat, took on the character of created

objects. This is one of the mysteries of the attribute of

creation which cannot be easily understood through rea-

soning. For the average person it is enough to realize that

whatever God Almighty determines to create comes into

being and that everything is His creation and has pro-

ceeded from His Power.

But this mystery of creation becomes plain to the men of

understanding after their disciplinary exercises, through

visions, and they seem to realize that all souls and bodies

are words of God which, through perfect Divine wisdom,

have been clothed as created objects. But the basic prin-

ciple to be adhered to is the factor that is common to

visions and reason, that is to say, that God is the Creator

of everything and that souls and bodies could not come

into being without Him. The phraseology of the Holy

Qur’an in this context is multifaceted but that which the

Holy Qur’an lays down conclusively and with certainty

is that everything has come into being through God Al-

mighty and nothing has come into being without Him, or

on its own. This is enough for the elementary stage.

Thereafter, to those who voyage through the different

stages of understanding, the mystery would be disclosed

after their striving, as Allah the Exalted has said:

70

[Surmah Chashm Arya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 173-175, footnote]

Here it is necessary to explain that when God, Who is the

Cause of causes and to Whose Being all beings are re-

70 ‘And as for those who strive in Our path, We will surely guide

them in Our ways.’—al-‘Ankabut, 29:70 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 7

lated, makes a move towards the creation of anything,

then if that move is on a full scale it occasions a move in

all creation, but when it is a partial move, it occasions a

move in some sections of the universe. The relationship

of the whole of creation and of all the worlds to God, the

Lord of Honour and Glory, resembles the relationship

which subsists between the soul and the body. As all the

limbs of the body are subject to the designs of the soul

and they all move in the direction in which the soul

moves, the same relationship subsists between God Al-

mighty and His creation.

Although I do not say like the author of Fusus about the

Ultimate Being that:

71

yet I do say:

72

The All-Wise has disclosed this mystery to me that the

whole of this universe including all its sections is de-

signed to carry out whatever is intended by the Cause of

causes and is like the limbs which do not operate on their

own, but are supplied with power all the time by the

71 He created things and that He is those very things. [Publisher] 72 He created all things and He is like those very things. This uni-

verse is like a great hall paved smooth with slabs of glass. A Great

Power flows underneath it and does whatever It wills. In the eyes of

the short-sighted, everything appears as if it existed by itself. They

imagine that the sun, the moon, and the stars exist on their own, but

all existence belongs to Him. [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 7

Great Soul as all the faculties of the body operate under

the direction of the soul. This universe is a substitute for

limbs for that Great Being. There are some things in it

which are as the light of His countenance, which serve as

light overtly or covertly according to His will. Some are

like His hands, some are like His wings and some are

like His breath. In short, this universe collectively is like

a body for God Almighty and all the glory and the life of

this body is derived from that Great Soul, Who is its Sus-

tainer. Whatever movement is willed by that Sustainer,

the same appears in all or some of the limbs of that body

as may be desired by that All-Sustaining Being.

To illustrate this, we can imagine that the Sustainer of the

universe is the Great Being, Who has numberless hands

and feet and numberless other limbs possessing unlimited

length and breadth and like an octopus this Great Being

has tentacles which spread out to all corners of the living

world and draw everything to themselves. These limbs

are called the universe. When the Sustainer of the uni-

verse makes a move, full or partial, it necessarily creates

movement in His limbs and He manifests His designs

through these limbs and not in any other way. This is an

easily understood illustration of the spiritual reality that

every section of creation is subject to the designs of God

Almighty and discloses His hidden designs in its counte-

nance and carries them out with the utmost degree of

obedience. This obedience is not at all based on govern-

ance and coercion. Everything is drawn towards God

Almighty as if by a magnetic power and every particle is

naturally inclined towards Him as the different limbs of a

body are inclined towards that body. Thus, it is quite true

that the whole of this universe is like the limbs of that

Great Being and that is why He is called Sustainer of the

Allah the Exalted 7

universe. As the soul is the sustainer of the body, He is

the Sustainer of the whole of creation. Had that not been

so the whole system would have run out of order.

Everything willed by that Sustainer whether overt or cov-

ert, whether related to the faith or to the world, is

manifested through the creation and none of His designs

is manifested on earth except through that means. This is

the eternal law of nature which is in operation since the

beginning.

[Taudih-e-Maram, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 3, pp. 88-91]

It cannot be gainsaid that whatever qualities are found

physically and mortally in heavenly bodies and elements

are spiritually and eternally present in God Almighty. It

has been disclosed to us that the sun and the moon etc.

are nothing in their own selves. It is the Supreme Power

which is operating behind the scenes. It is He Who, using

the moon as a cover for His Being, bestows light upon

dark nights, just as entering dark hearts He illumines

them and Himself speaks inside a person. It is He Who,

covering up His Powers with the sun, makes the day a

manifestation of a grand light and manifests His works in

different seasons. It is His Power that comes down from

the sky and is called rain which turns the dry earth into

greenery and satisfies the thirst of the thirsty. It is His

Power that burns in the shape of fire, refreshes the breath

in the shape of air, causes the flowers to bloom, raises the

clouds and conveys sound to the ears. It is His Power that

appears in the shape of the earth and carries on its back

the different species like man and animals. But are these

things God? No, they are His creation. God's Power

moves as the hand moves the pen. We can say that the

pen writes, but it is not the pen that writes, it is the hand

Allah the Exalted 7

that writes. We can say that a piece of iron which, having

been left in the fire, looks like the fire, burns and gives

light, but these are not the qualities of the piece of iron,

but of the fire. In the same way, it is true that all the

heavenly bodies and earthly elements and every particle

of the lower or the higher world which is visible and

which is felt, is, on account of its different qualities, a

name of God and an attribute of His. It is the Power of

God which is hidden in them and manifests itself. They

were all in the beginning God's words which have been

manifested in different forms by His Power.

A foolish one might ask how did God's words become

personified. Was not God diminished by their separation

from Him? He should consider that the fire a magnifying

glass obtains from the sun does not diminish the sun in

any way. In the same way, the fruits by developing under

the effect of moonlight do not diminish the moon in any

respect. It is a secret of the understanding of God which

is at the centre of all spiritual matters that the world was

created by the words of God.


When I observe these great bodies and reflect upon their

greatness and wonders and realize that all this was cre-

ated by God's design and His will, my soul cries out

involuntarily: Our Mighty Lord how Great are Thy Pow-

ers. How wonderful and beyond the limit of reason are

Thy Works. Foolish is the one who denies Thy Powers

and stupid is the one who asks: From what material did

He make all this?

[Nasim-e-Da‘wat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, p. 425, footnote]

The reality of the Godhead of God Almighty is that He is

a Being Who is the source of all grace and that all beings

Allah the Exalted 7

owe their origin to Him. That is why He is entitled to our

worship and we accept with pleasure that He is entitled

to possess our bodies and hearts and souls, inasmuch as

we were nothing and He brought us into being. Thus, He

Who brought us into being from nothingness is rightfully

our Master.

[Shahna-e-Haqq, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 428-429]

A speciality of God's Power by virtue of which He is

called God is the Power whereby spiritual and physical

faculties are created. For instance, in His bestowing eyes

on animates, His true excellence is not that He made the

eyes but that in the body cells He had already created

hidden powers invested with the capacity of sight. Were

those powers self-existing, God would be nothing. It

would amount to giving credit to the wrong person. It is

false to assert that sight is bestowed by those powers on

their own and that God has nothing to do with it, and that

if the particles of the universe had not had those powers,

God's Godhead would have been rendered useless. The

truth is that He Himself has created all the capacities of

the souls and of the particles of the universe and He con-

tinues to create them and He Himself has put certain

qualities in them and goes on putting them. Those very

qualities when brought in juxtaposition exhibit their

wonders. That is why no inventor can equal God.

An inventor of the locomotive, or of the telegraph or of

photography or of the press or of any other instrument

would confess that he is not the inventor of powers by

the use of which he prepares the instrument. All inven-

tors make use of existing capacities, as, in making a

locomotive work, use is made of the power of steam. The

difference is that God Himself has created these capaci-

Allah the Exalted 7

ties in the elements and the inventors are not able to cre-

ate those powers and capacities. Thus unless God is

accepted as the inventor of all the capacities and powers

of the particles of the universe and of the souls His God-

head is not established. In that case, He would rank only

as a builder or a carpenter or a smith or a potter and no

more. This is obvious and irrefutable.


We bear witness with our full faith and complete under-

standing that the contention of the Arya Samajists that

souls and particles with all their capacities are eternal and

self-existing and uncreated is false. This idea is disrup-

tive of the relationship between God and His creatures. It

is a new and repulsive doctrine which has been put forth

by Pandit Dyanand. We are not aware to what degree this

doctrine is drawn from the Vedas. What we contend is

that this principle which has been expounded by the Arya

Samajists is not acceptable to sane reason after full un-

derstanding and reflection and pondering.

The principle of Sanatan Dharam lies in exact contrast.

Although it has been disfigured by the exaggerations of

Vedanta and the Vedantists, and is exposed to a number

of objections, nevertheless it does have a spark of truth in

it. If their doctrine is simplified it amounts only to this

that everything has been created by Parmeshwar. In such

case, all doubts are removed and one has to confess that

according to the principles of Sanatan Dharam the doc-

trine of the Vedas also is that all souls and particles of

bodies and their powers and qualities are from God.

[Nasim-e-Da‘wat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol.19, p. 387]

The Holy Qur’an has taught us that man together with his

soul and all his capacities and every particle of his body,

Allah the Exalted

is the creation of God. Therefore, according to the teach-

ing of the Holy Qur’an, we are the property of God and

we possess no right which we can claim from Him, for

not rendering which He could be held responsible. In this

juxtaposition we cannot call God 'Just'. As we are en-

tirely empty-handed we call Him Rahim. To call Him

'Just' would imply that we have rights against Him and

for failure to discharge such rights He could be charged

with default.

[Chashma-e-Ma‘rifat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 23, p. 36]

The Holy Qur’an does not arbitrarily and without reason

describe God the Glorious as the Master of all souls and

all cells of bodies, as do the Vedas. Almighty Allah sets

forth the reason, as He says:

73

74

This means that the heavens and the earth and all that is

in them belong to God Almighty, inasmuch as He has

created them all.

He has put a limit to the capacity and work of each cre-

ated being, so that limited things should point to a

Limiter Who is God Almighty Himself.

Thus, we observe that as bodies are confined within their

limits and cannot go outside of them, in the same way

souls are also confined and cannot create more powers

and capacities than those that have been invested in

them. For instance, the moon completes its orbit within a

month, that is, in twenty nine or thirty days, but the sun

seems to complete its orbit in about three hundred sixty

73 al-Hadid, 57:3 [Publisher] 74 al-Furqan, 25:3 [Publisher]

80

Allah the Exalted 8

four days, and it cannot reduce the size of its orbit to that

of the moon. Nor has the moon the power to extend its

orbit to that of the sun. If the whole world were to agree

to alter the orbits of these two luminous bodies, it would

not be possible for it to do so. Nor could the sun and the

moon make any alteration in them of their own power.

Thus the Being Who has confined these celestial bodies

to their respective orbits and Who determines their

course, is God. In the same way, there is a great differ-

ence between the body of a man and the body of an

elephant. If all the physicians were to combine to bring

about a change in man's capacities and in his bulk so as

to make him the equal of the elephant, it would not be

possible for them to do so. If they desired to confine the

elephant to the bulk of man, this would be equally im-

possible. Here also there is a limitation, as there is in the

case of the sun and the moon, and that limitation indi-

cates a Limiter, that is to say, it points to a Being Who

bestowed that bulk upon the elephant and determined a

different one for man.

If one were to reflect one would find a hidden control of

God Almighty over all these physical matters in a won-

derful way. One observes the wonderful limitations

imposed by Him. Beginning with the bulk of the insects

which can be observed only under a microscope, up to

the bulk of the great leviathans which can swallow a

large vessel like a mouthful, one observes a wonderful

spectacle of limitation. No animal can transcend the lim-

its of its body. In the same way, the stars that are

observed in heaven cannot go beyond their limits. This

limitation shows that behind the scenes there is One Who

lays down these limits. This is the meaning of the verse:

Allah the Exalted 8

75

A similar limitation to that which governs bodies is also

found in the case of souls. You can easily understand that

the excellences which a human soul can exhibit, or to-

wards which it can make progress, are not available to

the soul of an elephant despite its size and bulk. In the

same way, the soul of every animal is confined to the

limits of its species with reference to its faculties and

capacities and it can acquire only those excellences

which are appointed for its species. Thus as the limita-

tions of bodies indicate that they have a Limiter and

Creator, in the same way, the limitations of the capacities

of souls also indicate that they have a Creator and a Lim-

iter.


Creation and Differences in Rank

It would be an intrusion into the works of God, which is

not permissible, to enquire why did God create a differ-

ence between capacities and why was not everyone

bestowed such capacities as would enable him to arrive

at the stage of perfect understanding and perfect love.

Every reasonable person can understand that no one has a

right against God to enquire that everyone should have

the same rank and should be endowed with excellent

faculties.

It is a matter of His grace to bestow whatever He wills.

For instance, God has made you man and has not made a

donkey a man. You have been endowed with reason and

a donkey has not been so endowed. You can acquire

75 ‘[He] has created everything, and has ordained for its proper

measure.’—al-Furqan, 25:3 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 8

knowledge and a donkey cannot. It is the will of the Mas-

ter and is not a matter of right which you have and a

donkey has not. In the creation of God a clear differentia-

tion of ranks is discernible which no reasonable person

can deny. Then can any part of creation which has no

right to exist, let alone a right to be awarded a high rank,

raise any objection before the Authoritative Master? It is

a bounty and beneficence of God Almighty to bestow the

robe of being upon His creatures and it is obvious that a

Donor and Benefactor has the authority to regulate His

bounty and His beneficence. Had He not the authority to

bestow less He would not have the authority to bestow

more and in such case He would not be able to exercise

His Mastership.

If the creation were vested with any right against the

Creator, this would involve a continuous series of claims;

for at whatever stage the Creator would place any created

being, the latter could claim that he is entitled to a higher

rank. If God Almighty can create limitless ranks, and the

exaltation of creation does not come to an end by the

creation of man, the series of claims on the basis of right

would be endless.

If the search should be for the wisdom underlying this

differentiation of ranks, it should be understood that the

Holy Qur’an has set forth three types of wisdom in that

context which are obvious and clear and cannot be de-

nied by any reasonable person.

The first one is, that the affairs of the world may be ad-

justed in the best manner as is said:

Allah the Exalted 8

76

(Part Number: 25)

This means that: The disbelievers say why was this

Qur’an not revealed to some chieftain or wealthy person-

age of Mecca or Ta’if so that it should have suited his

eminence and by virtue of his dignity and his statesman-

ship and his spending his money, the faith could have

spread speedily? Why was a person selected for this hon-

our, who is poor and has no property?

To these the retort is: 77

Is it for them to distribute the mercies of the Eternal

Lord?

That is to say, it is the doing of the All-Wise that He lim-

ited the faculties and capacities of some as they became

involved in the appendages of this world and took pride

in being called chieftains and wealthy and rich and forgot

the true object of existence. On others, He bestowed

spiritual graces and holy excellences and they became

the favourites of the True Beloved through their devotion

to His love.

Then follows the explanation that:

78

God has made some rich and some poor, some with fine

qualities and others dull, some inclined to one occupation

and others to another, so as to make it easy for some to

serve others and to cooperate with them in order that

responsibility might be shared and human affairs might

76 al-Zukhruf, 43:32-33 [Publisher] 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid.

Allah the Exalted 8

be carried on with ease. The verse concludes that in this

context God's Book is far more beneficial than worldly

riches and properties. This is a subtle allusion to the need

for revelation.

Man is a social animal and none of his affairs can be car-

ried to completion without cooperation. For instance,

take bread which is the staff of life. How much social

cooperation is needed for its production? From the stage

of cultivation of the earth to the stage when a loaf of

bread becomes available for eating, scores of workers

have to cooperate with each other. This shows how much

cooperation and mutual help is needed in different sec-

tors of social affairs. To fill this need the All-Wise One

created man equipped with different degrees of faculties

and capacities so that everyone should occupy himself

pleasurably according to his capacity and inclination;

some should engage in cultivation, some should manu-

facture agricultural implements, some should grind corn,

some should bring water, some should bake bread, some

should spin, some should weave, some should engage in

trade, some should carry on commerce, some should un-

dertake employment and thus everyone should cooperate

and help each other. Cooperation involves dealing with

each other and these dealings give rise to questions of

treatment, compensation, and neglect of duty which de-

mand a system of law which should restrain wrong,

trespass, rancour, disorder, and neglect of God, so that

the order of the universe should not be upset.

The making of a living and the due performance of social

duties depend upon justice and the recognition of God

and these demand a system of law which should provide

for due administration of justice and proper understand-

Allah the Exalted 8

ing of the Divine and which should exclude every type of

wrong and every kind of mistake. Such a system of law

can be promulgated only by the Being Who is altogether

free from forgetfulness, mistake, wrong and trespass and

Who is worthy of obedience and respect in His Being.

The law may be good, but if the promulgator of the law

is not such who by his rank should possess superiority

over all and the right to rule over them and if he is in the

eyes of the people not free from tyranny, vice, error, and

mistake, the law will either not come into operation or if

it does come into operation, would give rise to every kind

of disorder and instead of doing any good it would result

in harm. All this would predicate a Divine Book, for all

good qualities and every kind of excellence is to be

found only in the Book of God.

Secondly, the wisdom underlying a difference of ranks

is, that the excellence of good people may be demon-

strated, for every good quality is known only by contrast.

As it is said:

79

(Part Number: 15)

That is to say: God has made everything upon earth a

source of ornament for it so that the righteousness of the

righteous may be demonstrated in comparison with the

wicked, and so that by the observation of that which is

dull the fineness of that which is fine may become appar-

ent. Opposites are known by comparison with opposites

and the value of the good is known by comparison with

the bad.

Thirdly, in differentiation of ranks, it is desired to dem-

onstrate different types of power and to draw attention to

79 al-Kahf, 18:8 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 8

God's greatness as is said: 80

(Part Number: 29)

This means that: What ails you that you do not admit the

greatness of Allah? Whereas the differentiation of ca-

pacities and temperaments was created by the All-Wise

so that His Greatness and Power might be recognized.

As is said at another place:

81

(Part Number: 18)

This means that:

Allah has created every animal from water. Some of

them move on their bellies, some of them on two feet and

some on four. Allah creates what He pleases. Allah has

power to do all that He wills.

This is an indication that all these different species have

been created so that the diverse powers of the Divine

might be demonstrated. Thus, the differentiation in the

temperaments and the nature of creation is due to these

three considerations which God has set out in the verses

cited above. [Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, pp. 203-207, footnote 11]

Refutation of the Misguided Notions of the Aryas

Pandit Dyanand has recorded at page 501 of his Urdu

book Satyarath Prakash that Permeshwar cannot forgive

anyone's sin, for if He were to do so He would be guilty

80 Nuh, 71:14-15 [Publisher] 81 al-Nur, 24:46 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 8

of injustice. Thereby he confesses that Permeshwar is

merely a judge and is not Master. On the same page he

has recorded that Permeshwar cannot bestow unlimited

reward for limited actions. But if He is Master, there is no

harm in His rewarding limited service with unlimited

reward. The Master's actions are not to be measured by

justice. If we own something and out of it we bestow a

portion upon someone who asks for it, no one else has the

right to complain that more was given to another than to

him. In the same way, a creature has no right against God

Almighty to demand justice. A servant cannot ask for

justice nor can God admit the right of any of His creation

to demand justice. Whatever God bestows upon a creature

as a reward for his actions is purely His bounty.

Actions are nothing in themselves, for no action can be

performed without the support and grace of God. When

we reflect upon God's law, it becomes clear that what-

ever God Almighty has provided for His creatures is a

bounty of two types.

One is the bounty which existed before the coming into

being of man and man's action has nothing to do with it.

He has created for the benefit of man the sun, the moon,

the stars, the earth, water, air, fire, etc. and there is no

doubt that all these things were prior to the actions of

man, and man himself came into being after them. This is

the Divine mercy which, in the idiom of the Qur’an, is

called Rahmaniyyat. That is to say, such bounty is not

bestowed as a reward of a person's actions, but is by way

of pure grace.

The second type of mercy is called Rahimiyyat in the

idiom of the Qur’an; that is to say, the bounty that is be-

stowed upon man as a reward of his righteous actions.

Allah the Exalted 8

Can we imagine that the God Who has demonstrated as

an instance of His generous Malikiyyat that He made the

earth and heavens and the moon and sun, etc. when there

was no trace of His creatures and their actions, is in-

debted to His creatures and rewards them according to

their right, but no more? Had His creatures any right that

He should have made the earth and heavens for them and

should have created thousands of illuminated bodies in

the heavens and thousands of things upon the earth which

are a source of comfort and ease? To describe that Abso-

lute Donor as a mere dispenser of justice like a judge and

to deny His status and dignity as Master is the height of

ingratitude. [Chashma-e-Ma‘rifat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 23, pp, 26-28]

It should be borne in mind that Master is the word which

does not admit of any rights, and this expression can be

applied in its fullness only to God for He alone is the

Perfect Master. A person who accepts another as the

Master of his life etc. confesses that he has no right to his

life and property and that he owns nothing and every-

thing belongs to the Master. In such a case, it is not

permissible for him to demand from his Master that jus-

tice should be done to him in such and such a matter

because justice depends upon right and he has given up

all his rights. In the same way, man who in juxtaposition

to his True Master accepted his own status as that of ser-

vant and confessed:

82

That is to say: Our belonging, life, body and progeny are

all the property of God.


Allah the Exalted

After this confession there remains no right which he can

demand from God. That is why those who are gifted with

true understanding, despite every type of endeavour,

worship and almsgiving, leave themselves to the mercy

of God Almighty and attach no value to their actions and

make no claim that they have any right. In truth, Virtuous

is only He through Whose bestowed strength a person

can accomplish anything good, and He is God. No person

can demand justice from God Almighty on account of his

personal ability or merit. According to the Holy Qur’an,

all God's doings are as Master. As He punishes sin so He

also forgives sin. He has power to do both as befits His

Malikiyyat. If He were always to punish sin there would

be no escape for man, but God forgives most sins and

punishes some so that a heedless person being warned

should attend to Him. As is said in the Holy Qur’an:

83

Whatever misfortune befalls you is in consequence of

that which you practise. He pardons many of your sins,

and punishes some.

And in the same Surah is the verse:

84

He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants and

forgives sins.

No one should be misled by the fact that the Holy Qur’an

also contains the verse:

85

83 al-Shura, 42:31 [Publisher] 84 al-Shura, 42:26 [Publisher] 85 al-Zilzal, 99:9 [Publisher]

90

Allah the Exalted 9

Whoso will have done the smallest particle of ill will also

see it.

Here there is no contradiction for the ill that is mentioned

here is the ill in which a person persists and from which

he does not repent. The Holy Qur’an repeatedly affirms

that remorse and repentance, and non-insistence upon

evil, and asking for forgiveness procure forgiveness of

sins. Indeed, it is said that God loves those who repent,

as in the verse:

86

That is: God Almighty loves those who repent and loves

those who strive to purify themselves from sin.

In short, to punish every sin is contrary to the forgiveness

and mercy of God Almighty, for He is Master and is not

like a magistrate. He has named Himself Master in the

very first Surah of the Holy Qur’an where it is said: He is

Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din, that is to say, He is the Master of

punishment and reward and it is obvious that no one can

be called Master unless He has authority to do both, that

is to say, to punish when He wills and to forgive when

He wills.


According to the principle of the Aryas, their Permesh-

war cannot be called Malik for he has not the power to

bestow what he has as a pure bounty or gift, while the

donee has no right to it. He who is the owner of property

has the authority to bestow any portion of it on anyone he

chooses, but the Aryas believe that Permeshwar can nei-

ther forgive sins nor can He bestow anything on anyone

as a gift or bounty, because if He does either He would


Allah the Exalted 9

be acting unjustly.

Those who believe in the transmigration of souls cannot

affirm that Permeshwar is the Master of creation. We

have repeatedly affirmed that it is quite improper to bind

a Master to act according to the principles of justice. We

can affirm that He Who is Malik is Rahim and Bestower

and Generous and forgives sins, but we cannot say that

He adheres to justice in respect of His slaves and horses

and cattle, inasmuch as the notion of justice is only ap-

plicable where there is a certain freedom on both sides.

For instance, we can say concerning worldly sovereigns

that they are just and treat their subjects with justice. So

long as their subjects obey them, the rule of justice

makes it obligatory upon them that, in return for the obe-

dience of their subjects and the payment of their dues, the

sovereign should safeguard their lives and properties and

in times of need should help them out of his wealth.

Thus, from one aspect sovereigns impose their com-

mands upon their subjects and from another aspect the

subjects impose their wishes upon the sovereigns. So

long as these aspects operate in cooperation, the country

remains at peace, but when either side commits a default

the country ceases to be at peace. This shows that we

cannot describe a sovereign as a true Malik for he has to

behave justly towards his subjects and his subjects have

to behave justly towards him.

As regards God Almighty, we can call Him Rahim on

account of His Malikiyyat, but we cannot call Him just.

Any person who is owned by another cannot demand

justice from his owner, though he can humbly supplicate

for mercy. That is why the Holy Qur’an does not desig-

nate God Almighty as just, because justice demands

Allah the Exalted 9

mutual equality. God Almighty is Just in the sense that

He acts justly as between creatures regarding their mu-

tual rights, but He is not just in the sense that any

creature of His might demand his right from Him as an

associate. All His creatures belong to God and He has

authority to treat them as He might wish. He might be-

stow kingdom upon whom He wills and He might make

a beggar of him whom He so wills. He might cause any-

one to die young or He might bestow a long life upon

any. We ourselves when we own anything are free to

bestow it as we might choose. Indeed God is Merciful;

rather, He is the Most Merciful of all. By virtue of His

mercy, and not out of any limits in consideration of jus-

tice, He provides for His creation. As we have repeatedly

affirmed, the quality of Malikiyyat and the quality of jus-

tice are inconsistent with each other. Having been created

by Him, we have no right to demand justice from Him.

We supplicate Him humbly for mercy.

It is most unbecoming for a creature to demand justice

from God Almighty in His treatment of him. As every-

thing relating to the nature of man is from God and all of

man's faculties, spiritual as well as physical, are His

bounty and a good action can be performed only through

the support and strength bestowed by Him, it would be

the height of ignorance to demand justice from Him rely-

ing upon one's good actions. We cannot consider such a

teaching to be based on true knowledge. Indeed such a

teaching is deprived of all true understanding and is full

of folly. God Almighty has taught us in the Holy Qur’an

that to call God Just vis-à-vis His creatures is not only a

sin, but a rank blasphemy.


Allah the Exalted 9

Refutation of the Misguided

notions of Christians

Short-sighted Christians, through lack of proper reflec-

tion, are involved in the false notion that justice and

mercy cannot coexist in God Almighty, inasmuch as jus-

tice demands punishment and mercy demands

forbearance. They fail to consider that the justice of God

Almighty is also a mercy for it is all for the benefit of man-

kind. For instance, if God Almighty adjudges that a

murderer should be executed this does not add anything

to His Godhead. He ordains this so that mankind should

not become extinct through killing each other. This is

mercy for mankind and God Almighty has established

this system of mutual rights between His creatures so that

peace might be maintained and no group should trespass

against another and thus create disorder. Thus all the

punishments prescribed in the sphere of life, property,

and honour are a mercy for mankind....

There is no conflict between justice and mercy. They are

like two streams that run parallel to each other in their

courses without one interfering with the other. We find

the same principle in operation in worldly sovereignties.

An offender is punished, but those who behave well and

please the government become recipients of bounties and

gifts.

It should be borne in mind that the basic attribute of God

is mercy, and the notion of justice comes into operation

after reason and law are established. That also is in a way

a mercy. When reason is bestowed upon a person and,

through his reason, he becomes aware of the limits set by

God Almighty and His laws, he becomes subject to the

operation of justice, but reason and law are not a condi-

Allah the Exalted 9

tion for the operation of mercy. As God Almighty out of

His mercy desired to exalt man above the rest of His

creation, He prescribed the limits and rules of justice

between them. It is a folly to imagine a contradiction

between justice and mercy.

[Kitab-ul-Bariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 13, pp. 73-74]

Knowledge of God

A subtle question rises here: what is the nature of the

knowledge of Almighty God through the perfection of

which He is aware of the overt and the covert of every

particle? It is true that reason cannot comprehend the true

condition of that knowledge, yet it is entirely true to say

that of all types of knowledge that can be conceived of

that knowledge is more powerful and stronger and fuller

and more complete. When we observe our own ways of

acquiring knowledge and consider its diverse types, we

find that the greatest and most certain and most absolute

of all the types of knowledge is the knowledge that we

possess concerning our own existence.

No man can in any condition forget his own existence or

entertain any doubt concerning it. So far as our reason

extends, we find this type of knowledge more powerful

and stronger and fuller and more complete. We find it

inconsistent with the perfection of God Almighty that

His knowledge with regard to His creatures should in any

way be less perfect than this, inasmuch as it would

amount to a deficiency on the part of God Almighty, that

He should not possess the highest kind of knowledge

once could conceive of and it could be objected why

God's knowledge fell short of the highest kind; was it by

His own design or by some compulsion? It could not be

Allah the Exalted 9

by His own design for no one deliberately permits a defi-

ciency with regard to himself. Then how should God

Almighty, Who loves perfection, permit such a defi-

ciency concerning Himself? If it is said that it is by some

compulsion, then it would follow that the compeller

would be supreme over God Almighty in his powers and

his strength, so that on account of that excess of strength

he should be able to restrain God in His designs. But that

is impossible in itself because nobody is supreme over

God Almighty through whose obstruction He could be

confronted with some compulsion. It is established,

therefore, that God's knowledge is perfect.

We have already established that of all types of knowl-

edge the most perfect is that which a person has with

regard to his own existence. We have therefore to ac-

knowledge that God's knowledge concerning His

creation is like that knowledge though we cannot com-

prehend its true nature. Our reason tells us that the most

certain and absolute knowledge is that which should ex-

clude any distance or barrier between the knower and

that which is to be known. That knowledge is of this

type. As a man is not dependent upon other sources of

knowledge in order to be aware of his own existence, to

be animate and to consider oneself as an animate are so

close to each other as to be identical. Such should be the

knowledge of God Almighty concerning the whole uni-

verse. Here also there should be no difference and

distance between the Knower and that which is to be

known. This high quality of knowledge which God needs

for the establishment of His Godhead can be predicated

of Him, when it is accepted concerning Him that there is

so much closeness and such relationship between Him

and the subject of His knowledge, greater than which it is

Allah the Exalted 9

not possible to imagine.

This perfect relationship with the subjects of His knowl-

edge can exist only when all of them should have

proceeded from Him and should be His creation. Their

being must be dependent upon His Being. In other words,

when the situation should be such that the true existence

should be only His and all others should have proceeded

from Him and should subsist with His support. Even af-

ter their creation, they should not be independent of Him,

nor be separate from Him, but in truth after the creation

of all things, He alone should be truly alive and all other

life should have proceeded from Him and should exist

only with His support. He alone should be subject to no

limitation and everything else, souls as well as bodies,

should be confined within the limits set by Him. He

should comprehend everything; everything should be

comprehended in His Rububiyyat. There should be noth-

ing which should not have proceeded from His hand and

should not be included within His Rububiyyat, nor should

it exist without His support. It is only in such a situation

that God Almighty would have a perfect relationship

with the subjects of His knowledge. This relationship is

referred in the Holy Qur’an as:

87

We are closer to him than his jugular vein.

Similarly at another place it is said:

88

That is to say: He alone sustains true life and everything

else has proceeded from Him and has a life because of

87 Qaf, 50:17 [Publisher] 88 al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted9

Him;

In truth He is the Life of all lives and is the Power of all

powers....

If the soul is not accepted as having been created, then

there would be no reason to assume that someone who

bears the fictitious title of Permeshwar would have any

knowledge concerning the reality of the soul, whose

knowledge would extend to the ultimate limits of the

soul. A person who has full knowledge concerning a

thing has the power to make it also, and if he has not the

power then his knowledge must be defective in some

respect. In the absence of full knowledge, it would be

difficult to distinguish between similar things, let alone

to have the power of making them. If God Almighty is

not the Creator of things then He not only suffers from

the deficiency that His knowledge is incomplete, but it

also follows that He would be subject to confusion in

distinguishing between millions of souls and might often

mistake the soul of X as the soul of Y. Partial knowledge

often leads to such confusion. And if you assert that it

does not, then produce some argument in your favour.

[Surmah Chashm Arya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 221-226 footnote]

It might be asked that if full comprehension of a thing

implies the power to create it then, as God's knowledge

of His Own Being is perfect, is He the Creator of His

Own Being or has He power to create the like of Him-

self? The answer to the first part is that were God

Almighty the Creator of His Own Being, it would in-

volve His being in existence before His coming into

existence and this is an impossibility. God Almighty pos-

sessing complete knowledge of His Own Being means

that, in this instance, the Knower and His knowledge and

Allah the Exalted 9

that which is known are all the same and cannot be sepa-

rated. There is here nothing which should be regarded as

having been created. God's knowledge of His Own Being

cannot be compared to anything else. In this instance, the

Knower is not something apart from that which is known

so that one may be designated as the Creator and the

other as creation. The proper way to put it is that His

Being is uncreated and is eternally and everlastingly

Self-Existing and that is the meaning of God.

The second part of the objection is that God's complete

knowledge of Himself means that He has the power to

create His Own like. The answer to this is that God's

power directs itself towards matters which are not incon-

sistent with His eternal attributes. It is true that God, if

He so desires, can create that of which He has perfect

knowledge, but it certainly does not follow that whatever

He has the power to do He should proceed to do without

regard to His perfect attributes. In the exercise of all His

powers, He has regard to His perfect attributes and He

has it in mind whether that which He wills is not contra-

dictory of His perfect attributes. For instance, He has the

power to burn a pious and righteous person in the fire of

Hell, but His mercy and justice and attribute of reward

would stand in the way, and, therefore, He never does it.

In the same way His power is never inclined to destroy

Himself for this would be contrary to His eternal life. He

does not create His Own like because His attributes of

Unity and Peerlessness, which are eternal, prevent Him

from thinking in that way. It should be understood that to

be unable to do something is one thing, but despite the

power to do a thing, not to address Himself to something

contradictory of His attributes, is quite another.

[Surmah Chashm Arya Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, pp. 230-233 footnote]

Allah the Exalted

It is characteristic of God Almighty alone to know the

hidden by virtue of His personal power and His personal

condition. From ancient times, those who based them-

selves upon truth have believed that it is proper for God

Almighty that He should know the hidden. This is a per-

sonal speciality of His. He has no associate in this

attribute as He has no associate in His other attributes. It

is, therefore, impossible for anyone to have personal

knowledge of the hidden whether he is a Prophet or

Muhaddath or Wali. It is true, however, that favourites

and chosen ones are given knowledge of hidden myster-

ies through revelation. This has been so since ancient

times and continues today, but such experience is now

confined to the followers of the Holy Prophet alone.

[peace and blessings of Allah be on him].

[Tasdiq-un-Nabi, pp. 26-27 or Maktubat-e-Ahmadiyya, Vol. 3, p.57]

Our Ever-Living and All-Sustaining God talks to me like

one person talks to another. I ask Him something and

supplicate Him and He answers in words full of power. If

this should happen a thousand times, He does not fail to

answer. In His words He discloses wonderful hidden

matters and displays scenes of extraordinary powers till

He makes it clear that He alone is the One who should be

called God. He accepts prayers and intimates their accep-

tance. He resolves great difficulties and through repeated

supplications revives those who are sick and very nearly

dead. He discloses all these designs of His in advance

through His words which relate to future events. He

proves that He is the God of heaven and earth. He ad-

dressed me and told me that He would safeguard me

against death by plague and all those who dwell in my

house in piety and righteousness. Who else is there in

this age except myself who has published such a revela-


tion and disclosed God's promise concerning the mem-

bers of his family and other pious people who dwell

within his house?


In addition to all other normal conditions of man, in-

grained in his nature, is the quest for a Transcendental

Being for Whom there is a longing in his heart of hearts.

The effect of this quest begins to be felt as soon as a

child is born. As soon as it is born, it exhibits a spiritual

characteristic which is that it leans towards its mother

and entertains a natural affection for her. As its senses

develop and the flower of its nature blooms, this attrac-

tion of love, which is inherent in it, begins to exhibit

itself patently. It finds no comfort anywhere except in the

lap of its mother. If it is separated from its mother and is

put at a distance from her, its life becomes bitter, and

though a heap of bounties may be placed before it, it

finds its true comfort only in its mother's lap and no-

where else. Then what is this attraction that it feels

towards its mother?

In truth, it is the same attraction which is vested in a

child's nature for God. Every exhibition of affection by a

person in fact proceeds from that very attraction, and the

restlessness of a lover which a person experiences is in

truth a reflection of that very love, as if he takes up di-

verse things and examines them in search for something

that he has lost and whose name he has forgotten. A per-

son's love of property, or children, or wife, or his soul

being drawn towards the song of a sweet voiced singer,

are in fact all in search of the lost Beloved. As man cannot

perceive with his physical eyes the Imperceptible Being

Who is latent in everyone like fire and yet is hidden from


everyone, nor can he find Him through the exercise of his

imperfect reason, he has been subject to many errors in

his understanding of Him and through his errors he ren-

ders to others that which is His due. God Almighty has

mentioned an excellent illustration in the Holy Qur’an

that the world is like a great hall paved smooth with slabs

of glass and a current of water flows underneath them

which runs very fast. A person looking at the slabs of

glass wrongly imagines them to be water also and is

afraid of walking upon them as he would be afraid of

walking upon water, though in reality they are only glass

but very clear and transparent. Thus, these great objects

in heaven like the sun and the moon etc. are transparent

like glass and are worshipped by mistake. Behind them,

there is a Higher Power at work which is flowing swiftly

like water. It is the mistake of those who worship created

things that they attribute to the glass all this activity

which is being manifested by the Power behind it. This is

the explanation of the verse:

89

Revelation Needed for Attaining Absolute Certainty

As the Being of God Almighty, despite its brightness, is

hidden beyond sight, the physical universe is not ade-

quate for its true recognition. This is the reason why

those who depended upon the physical system despite

their careful consideration of its perfect orderliness

which comprehends hundreds of wonders within itself,

and despite their pursuit of astronomy and physics and

philosophy to a degree which shows that they had pene-

89 ‘It is a palace paved smooth with slabs of glass.’—al-Naml, 27:45 [Publisher]


trated through heaven and earth, could not get rid of their

doubts and suspicions and became involved in all types

of errors and wandered far afield in their absurd fanta-

sies. If they thought of the Being of the Creator, they

proceeded only thus far that observing the great orderli-

ness of the wise system they imagined that it should have

a Creator. It is obvious, however, that this idea is incom-

plete and this understanding is imperfect, for to say that

this system needs a God is not equal to saying that God

in fact exists. This was only their conjectural understand-

ing which cannot bestow satisfaction and contentment

upon the heart, nor can it entirely remove doubts. This is

not a cup which could quench the thirst of complete un-

derstanding which is inherent in man's nature. In fact,

such imperfect understanding is very dangerous, for after

a great deal of noise it leads to nothing.

So long as God Almighty does not affirm His Existence

by His word, as indeed He has done, the mere observa-

tion of His handiwork does not afford satisfaction. For

instance, if we see a room which is bolted from inside,

our first reaction would be that there is someone inside

who has put up the bolts for it is impossible to put up the

bolts from outside. But if over a long period no one from

inside should respond to repeated calls, we would have to

abandon our assumption that there is someone inside and

we would imagine that there is no one inside and that the

bolts have been put up through some clever device. This

is the case of the philosophers whose understanding does

not go beyond the observation of God's work. It is a great

mistake to imagine that God is like a corpse which has to

be brought out of its grave by man. If God has to be dis-

covered through human effort, all our hopes of such a

God are vain.


Indeed God is the Being Who has ever called mankind to

Himself by announcing: I am present. It would be imper-

tinence to imagine that man has laid Him under an

obligation through his understanding of Him and that if

there had been no philosophers He would have remained

unknown. It is another impertinence to enquire whether

God has a tongue wherewith He can speak. Has He not

created all heavenly bodies and the earth without physi-

cal hands? Does He not see the whole world without

physical eyes? Does He not hear us without physical

ears? Was it then not necessary that He should also

speak?

It is not at all correct to say that all God's speaking has

been left behind and that there is nothing in future. We

cannot seal up His words and His speech in any age.

Without doubt, He is ready to enrich the seekers from the

fountain of revelation as He used to do before. The gates

of His grace are as open today as they were at any time.

It is true, however, that the needs for law and limitations

having been fulfilled, all Messengerships and

Prophethoods found their perfection at their last point,

which was the person of our lord and master, the Holy

Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him].

[Islami Usul ki Philosophy, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 10, pp. 363-367]

True knowledge about God depends upon this that we

should reach the Living God Who speaks clearly to His

favourites and bestows satisfaction and contentment

upon them with His Majestic and delicious speech. He

speaks to them as one man speaks to another and con-

verses with them as a certainty that is beyond doubt or

suspicion. He listens to them and responds to them and

hearing their supplications He informs them of their ac-


ceptance. He proves to them that He is God on the one

side by His majestic and delicious words, and on the

other side, by His miraculous works and His Powerful

and Mighty signs. To begin with, by way of prophecy He

promises them His support and help and special guidance

and then on the other side, in order to augment the great-

ness of His promises, He causes a whole world to oppose

them. Those people use all their power and their deceit

and all their devices to frustrate God's promises of sup-

port and help and supremacy which He makes to His

favourites, but God brings to naught all their efforts.

They sow mischief and God uproots it. They kindle a fire

and God puts it out. They put forth their utmost efforts

and God turns their designs against them.

The righteous ones of God are simple and straightfor-

ward and in the presence of God Almighty they are like

children in the lap of their mother. The world opposes

them because they are not of the world. All sorts of plans

and devices are resorted to in order to destroy them. Peo-

ples combine to put them to trouble, and all unworthy

ones shoot arrows at them from the same bow, and all

manner of calumnies and charges are invented against

them, so that somehow they might be destroyed and all

signs of them might be wiped off, but God Almighty

fulfils His words all through their lives. They are hon-

oured with God's true word which is clear and

conclusive, and they are given knowledge of hidden mat-

ters, which is beyond the power of man, through the clear

word of God, the Mighty and Powerful. On the other

hand, through miraculous events which establish the

truth of that which they had been told, their faith is

strengthened and is further illumined. The kind of

knowledge required by human nature for the true recog-


nition of God, is imparted through verbal and factual

manifestation of the Divine so that not a particle of dark-

ness is left.

This is the God through Whose verbal and factual mani-

festations, which comprise thousands of bounties and

affect the heart powerfully, a person acquires a living

faith and a true and holy relationship is established with

God, which removes all personal dirt; and all weakness

being excluded, inner darkness is dispelled by the fierce

rays of heavenly light and a wonderful change is mani-

fested. Therefore, the religion which does not present

God as possessing these attributes and confines faith to

ancient tales and fables and such matters as are not seen

or heard, is certainly not a true religion. To follow such

a fictitious god is like expecting a corpse to work like

living beings. A god who does not prove his own exis-

tence afresh every time is as if he does not exist. He is

like an idol which neither speaks nor hears nor answers

questions, nor can he manifest his power in such a man-

ner that even a confirmed atheist should not be able to

doubt it.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part V, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 21, pp. 31-32]

OBJECTION: It is disrespectful to affirm that God

speaks to man. What relationship can subsist between a

mortal and the Eternal and Ever-Existing? What resem-

blance can there be between a handful of dust and Light

itself?

ANSWER: This is a baseless objection. To meet it, it is

enough to understand that the Noble and Gracious God

has inspired the hearts of perfect human beings with un-

told eagerness for His own understanding, and has drawn

them so powerfully to His love, affection and devotion


that they have been lost to their own selves. To propose

in such a case that God would not desire to converse with

them would be tantamount to saying that all their love

and devotion are vain and that all their eagerness is only

one-sided. Such a notion is utter nonsense. Can a seeker

of One Who bestowed upon man the capacity to win

nearness to Him and made him restless with His own

love be deprived of the grace of converse with Him? Can

it be true that to be lost entirely in the love of God is both

possible and detracts nothing from God's dignity, but that

the descent of revelation upon the heart of His true lover

is impossible and improper and detracts from God's dig-

nity? Man's plunging into the limitless ocean of God's

love and stopping nowhere in that pursuit, is conclusive

evidence that man's wonderful soul has been fashioned

for the understanding of God. If it is not bestowed the

means of perfect understanding, which is revelation, it

would have to be said that God did not fashion him for

His own understanding. Even the Brahmu Samajists do

not deny that the soul of a man who possesses a true na-

ture is hungry and thirsty for the understanding of God.

When it is agreed that a true man naturally seeks under-

standing of God, and it is established that the perfect

manner of the understanding of the Divine is Divine

revelation and nothing else, then if that means is impos-

sible of attainment and to seek it is disrespectful, God's

wisdom would be open to the criticism that He bestowed

upon man eagerness for His Own understanding but did

not bestow upon him the means of acquiring such under-

standing. In other words, He afflicted man with hunger

but would not bestow upon him bread enough to satisfy

his hunger, or that He afflicted man with thirst, but

would not bestow upon him water enough to quench his


thirst. Wise people will understand that such a notion

amounts to failure to appreciate God's great mercies. It is

a strange logic of the Brahmu Samajists which proposes

that the All-Wise Who has made it the good fortune of

man that he should be able to witness to the full the rays

of Godhead in this very life, so that he should be drawn

towards God by this powerful attraction, that that Gra-

cious and Compassionate One does not desire man to

arrive at his needed good fortune and at his natural goal.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1 pp. 230-232, footnote 11]

Whatever God has desired for man, He has in advance

invested him with all the faculties that were needed for its

achievement. For instance, the human soul possesses a

capacity for love. A person through error might love an-

other person and might choose someone as the object of

his love, but sane reason can easily understand that this

capacity for love has been vested in his soul so that he

should love his true Beloved Who is his God, with his

whole heart and his whole power and his whole eagerness.

Can we say that this capacity for love, which is vested in

the human soul, and whose surge is limitless and at

whose high tide man is ready to lay down his life, is in-

herent in the soul since the beginning of time? Not at all.

If God has not created this relationship between man and

Himself by vesting the capacity for love in the human

soul then this capacity is a matter of chance; that by the

good fortune of Permeshwar souls were inspired with the

capacity for love and that if the chance had been other-

wise and this capacity had not been found in the souls,

nobody would have ever turned his attention to Per-

meshwar. Nor could Permeshwar have devised any plan


in this regard, because existence cannot90 come out of

non-existence.

But it should also be kept in mind that the demand of

Permeshwar for His own worship and for righteous ac-

tion proves that He has Himself invested the human soul

with the capacity for love and obedience. He, therefore,

desires that man in whom He has vested these capacities

should devote himself to His love and obedience; other-

wise, how can Permeshwar desire that people should love

Him and should obey Him and should act in accordance

with His will?


Need for Purification

91

(Urdu couplet):

He who loves the Holy One;

Must purify himself in order to find Him.

Every people claims that there are many among them

who love God Almighty, but what needs to be known is

whether God loves them or not. The proof of God's love

is that first He removes the veil that prevents a person

from believing with certainty in the existence of God.

Because of this veil man admits the existence of God

with dark and blurred understanding and very often at the

time of trial denies His existence altogether. The removal

of this veil cannot be achieved except through converse

with God. A person drinks of the fountain of true under-

90 According to the belief of the Aryas. [Translator] 91 ‘Surely, he prospers who augments it.’—al-Shams, 91:10 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted 1

standing on the day when God addresses him and con-

veys to him the good news: I am present. At that stage

man's understanding does not remain confined to conjec-

ture or argumentation. He comes so near to God as if he

sees Him. It is entirely true that perfect faith in God is

achieved only when He informs a person of His Own

existence.

The second sign of God's love is that He not only informs

those dear to Him of His existence, but manifests espe-

cially to them the signs of His mercy and grace, by

accepting their prayers concerning matters which are

apparently beyond hope and informing them of it through

His revelation and His speech. This reassures them that

their God is Powerful Who hears their prayers and in-

forms them of it and delivers them from difficulties.

They then understand the mystery of salvation and are

convinced of the existence of God. By way of awakening

and warning, other people also might occasionally have

the experience of true dreams, but the experience of the

converse of God is something entirely different. It is

vouchsafed only to those who are His favourites. When

such a one supplicates God Almighty He manifests Him-

self to him with His glory and causes His spirit to

descend upon him and intimates to him the acceptance of

his prayer in His loving words. He who has this experi-

ence very frequently is called Prophet or Muhaddath. [Hujjat-ul-Islam , Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 6, pp. 42-43]

A servant displays his sincere love for God by his good

behaviour, but God's response is astonishing. In response

to the rapid advance of the servant, God rushes towards

him like lightning and displays signs for him on earth

and in heaven and becomes the friend of his friends and

the enemy of his enemies. Even if five hundred million


people oppose him God humiliates them and makes them

helpless like a dead insect. He destroys a whole world for

the sake of that one person and makes His earth and

heaven the servants of such a one. He blesses his words

and sends down a rain of light on his dwelling. He puts a

blessing in his clothes and his food and even in the dust

upon which he treads. He does not let him die a failure

and Himself answers all objections raised against him.

He becomes his eyes with which he sees, and becomes

his ears with which he hears, and becomes his tongue

with which he speaks, and becomes his feet with which

he walks, and becomes his hands with which he deals

with his enemies. He personally takes on the enemies of

his friend, draws His sword against the wicked ones who

persecute him, and makes him victorious in every field.

He conveys to him the secrets of His decrees. The very

first purchaser of his spiritual beauty who comes forward

after his good behaviour and personal love is God Him-

self. Then how unfortunate are the people who should

live in such an age and such a sun should rise upon them

and they should continue to sit in darkness.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 21 p. 225]

After perfection of the spiritual structure, the flame of the

personal love of God falls upon the heart of a person like

a spirit and bestows upon him the condition of being ever

present before God. Spiritual beauty manifests itself at its

fullest when such a one arrives at his perfection. This

spiritual beauty which might be called good behaviour

far exceeds the beauty of countenance by virtue of its

strong attraction. The beauty of countenance can only

win the mortal love of one or two persons and soon de-

clines. Its pull is very weak. But the spiritual beauty

which has been called good behaviour is so strong in its


pull that it draws a whole world to itself so that every

particle of heaven and earth is pulled towards it. This is

the philosophy of the acceptance of prayer.

When a person possessing spiritual beauty who is pene-

trated by the spirit of Divine love, supplicates for an

impossible or very difficult object and carries his suppli-

cation to the limit, then on account of his spiritual

beauty, every particle of this universe is drawn towards

him by the command of God Almighty, and such means

are provided as are adequate for his success. Both ex-

perience and the Book of God establish that every

particle of the world has a natural love for such a person

and his prayers draw all particles towards him as a mag-

net draws iron, and extraordinary matters come to light

on account of this attraction which are not mentioned in

physics or in philosophy. Ever since the Creator has fash-

ioned the world of bodies from particles, He has invested

every particle with that attraction and every particle is a

sincere lover of spiritual beauty and so also is every good

soul because that beauty is the manifestation of truth. It

was that beauty on account of which God commanded

the angels:

92

There are many today like Iblis who do not recognize

that beauty, but that beauty has accomplished great

things.

The same beauty was in Noah, out of regard for which the

Lord of Honour and Glory destroyed all his enemies by

the torment of water. Then Moses appeared with the same

92 ‘Submit to Adam’, and they all submitted. But Iblis did not.—al-

Baqarah, 2:35 [Publisher]


spiritual beauty, and he, after suffering for a few days,

became the occasion for the ruin of Pharaoh. Then last of

all the Chief of the Prophets and the best of mankind, our

lord and master Muhammad, the chosen one [peace and

blessings of Allah be on him] appeared with a grand

spiritual beauty in praise of which it is enough to cite the

verse:

93

This means that: That Prophetsa

drew closer to God and

then leaned towards mankind and thus discharged fully

that which was due to God and that which was due to

man and demonstrated both kinds of spiritual beauty.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 21, pp. 219-221]

In the article that was read out in the meeting, it was

stated that Permeshwar is free from anger, rancour, ha-

tred and envy. Perhaps the meaning of the speaker was

that in the Holy Qur’an the word anger has been used

with reference to God. In contrast, he desired to convey

that the Vedas is free from any affirmation that God be-

comes angry. But this is his mistake. It should be borne

in mind that no undue tyrannical wrath is attributed to

God Almighty in the Holy Qur’an. All that is meant is

that, on account of His Holiness, God possesses an at-

tribute which resembles wrath and that attribute demands

that a disobedient one who persists in his rebellion

should be chastised. God also possesses another attribute

which resembles love and that demands that an obedient

one should be rewarded for his obedience. The first at-

tribute has been named wrath for the purpose of

illustration, and the second one has been termed love. But

93 al-Najm, 53:9-10 [Publisher]

Allah the Exalted11

neither His fury like human fury, nor is His love like

human love. God Almighty has said in the Holy Qur’an:

94

That is to say: There is nothing like God or His attrib-

utes.

We enquire from the speaker why does Permeshwar,

according to the Vedas, punish sinners, so much so that

He degrades them from the status of humanity and makes

them dogs, swine, apes and cats, etc. One has to admit

that He possesses an attribute that demands such pun-

ishment. This attribute is described in the Holy Qur’an as

God's wrath....

If Permeshwar does not possess an attribute that demands

that He should punish sinners, then why does He incline

towards punishment? He must possess an attribute that

demands recompense and that attribute is called wrath,

but that wrath is not like the anger of man, but is suited

to the dignity of God. That is the wrath that is mentioned

in the Holy Qur’an.... When God bestows His bounty

upon those who act righteously, it is said that He loves

them. When He punishes those who act viciously, it is

said that He is angry with them. Thus as wrath is men-

tioned in the Vedas so is it mentioned in the Holy

Qur’an; the only difference being that according to the

Vedas the wrath of God in its severity can turn men on

account of their sins, into insects, etc. but the Holy

Qur’an does not carry God's wrath to such extremes. The

Holy Qur’an says that despite punishment God maintains

the humanity of a person and does not condemn him to

some other existence, which shows that according to the

94 al-Shura, 42:12 [Publisher]


Holy Qur’an God's love and mercy are greater than His

wrath, and according to the Vedas the punishment of

sinners is unlimited and Permeshwar is all anger and has

no trace of mercy. It appears clearly from the Holy

Qur’an that a time will come when God will have mercy

upon all the dwellers of hell.


Kingdom of God Encompasses Heaven and Earth

The Gospel directs us to pray: "Our Father that art in

heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy

will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day

our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

those who trespass against us and put us not in tempta-

tion, but save us from evil for Thine is the kingdom and

the power and the glory for ever."95

But the Qur’an says that the earth is not empty of God's

Holiness which is proclaimed not only in heaven, but

also on earth. As it is said:

96

97

These verses mean that:

Every particle of earth and heaven glorifies and pro-

claims the Holiness of Allah and; everything in them is

engaged in His glorification and praise.

The mountains remember Him, the rivers remember

Him, the trees remember Him and many righteous ones

are occupied with His remembrance. Whoever fails to

95 Matthew 6:9-13 [Publisher] 96 Bani Isra’il, 17:45 [Publisher] 97 al-Jumu‘ah, 62:2 [Publisher]


remember Him in his heart and by his tongue and does

not humble himself before God is compelled to humble

himself by being put through diverse types of torment by

Divine decree. Whatever is recorded of the angels in the

Book of God that they are completely obedient to Him,

the same is said of every leaf and every particle in the

earth. Everything is obedient to Him, not a leaf can fall

without His command, no medicine can heal without His

command, nor can any food prove agreeable without it.

Everything prostrates itself at the threshold of God in

extreme humility and worshipfulness and is occupied

with His obedience. Every particle of the earth and

mountains, every drop of the rivers and oceans, every

leaf of trees and plants and all particles of men and beasts

recognize God, obey Him and are occupied with His glo-

rification and praise.

That is why God Almighty has said: 98

That is to say: Everything in the earth glorifies Allah and

proclaims His Holiness as does everything in heaven.

Then how can it be said that God is not glorified in the

earth? Such a sentiment cannot be expressed by a person

of perfect understanding. Of the things of the earth some

obey the commandment of the law and some are obedient

to Divine decrees and some are occupied with obedience

of both. The clouds, air, fire and earth are all devoted to

the obedience and glorification of God.

If any human being disobeys the commandments of Di-

vine law, he follows the commandments of Divine

decrees. No one is outside the ambit of these two com-

98 al-Jumu‘ah, 62:2 [Publisher]


mandments. Everyone bows down to the heavenly king-

dom in some form or the other. It is true that having

regard to the purity and corruption of human hearts,

heedlessness and remembrance of Allah prevail in the

earth by turns, but this ebb and flow does not occur by

itself, but only in obedience to the Divine will. That hap-

pens which God wills. The alternation of guidance and

error proceeds like the alternation of day and night ac-

cording to the light and command of God and not by

itself. Despite this, everything hears His voice and glori-

fies Him. But the Gospel says that the earth is empty of

the glorification of God and the reason is indicated in the

sentence that follows, namely, that the kingdom of God

has not yet arrived on the earth. That is why God's will

has not been put into effect on the earth as it operates in

heaven. The teaching of the Qur’an is altogether contrary

to this. The Qur’an states clearly that no thief, murderer,

adulterer, disbeliever, disobedient one, rebellious one or

offender can commit any evil upon the earth unless he is

authorised from heaven. Then how can it be said that the

kingdom of heaven does not operate upon earth? Does

some adverse possession stand in the way of the en-

forcement of God's command on the earth? Indeed not.

God Himself made one law for the angels in heaven and

another one for man on the earth. In His kingdom of

heaven, God has given no choice to the angels. Obedi-

ence is inherent in their nature. They are not able to

disobey. They are not subject to error or forgetfulness.

But human nature has been given the choice of obedience

and disobedience. As this choice has been given from

above, therefore, it cannot be said that because of a dis-

obedient person, God's kingdom has been excluded from

the earth. God's kingdom is in operation all the time and


in every way. Yet it is true that there are two systems of

law. One for the angels in heaven, which is the law of

Divine decree which the angels cannot disobey, and there

is another law which is in operation on earth that man has

been given the choice of good and evil. But when a per-

son supplicates God for power to overcome evil, then

with the support of the Holy Spirit he can overcome his

weakness and can safeguard himself against sin, as is the

case with the Prophets and Messengers of God.

In the case of those who have been guilty of sin, asking

for forgiveness can deliver them from the consequences

of sin and they are spared chastisement in respect of it,

for when light comes darkness is dispelled. Those

offenders who do not beg for forgiveness suffer punish-

ment for their offences. In these days, the plague has also

descended upon the earth as punishment and the rebel-

lious ones are being destroyed. Then how can it be said

that the kingdom of God does not operate upon the earth?

Do not be misled by the thought that if there is a king-

dom of God upon earth then why is any sin committed?

Sins are also subject to the Divine law of decrees. Al-

though the offenders put themselves outside the law of

Shari‘ah they cannot put themselves outside the law of

decrees. Then how can it be said that sinners do not bend

to the yoke of the Divine kingdom? ....

If Divine law were to take on extreme harshness and

every adulterer were to be struck down by lightning, and

every thief were to be afflicted by some disease whereby

his hands would become rotten and fall away, and every

rebellious one who denies God and His religion were to

die of the plague, then before the expiry of a week the

whole world would put on the garments of righteousness


and good behaviour. Thus, there is God's kingdom on

earth, but heavenly law has bestowed this much freedom

that offenders are not immediately seized with punish-

ment. Yet, punishment is also continuously in force.

Earthquakes happen, lightning strikes, volcanoes erupt

and destroy thousands of lives, vessels sink, many lives

are lost in railway accidents, storms are encountered,

houses fall, snakes bite, wild beasts rend, epidemics

spread and not one, but many doors of destruction are

open which Divine law has appointed for the punishment

of offenders. Then how can it be said that God's kingdom

does not operate upon earth?

The truth is that the kingdom is there. Every offender has

handcuffs around his wrists and chains around his feet,

but Divine Wisdom has softened its law to a degree that

the handcuffs and the chains do not manifest themselves

immediately. But if an offender persists in his wrongdo-

ing they carry him to hell and push him into a torment in

which he neither lives nor dies.

In short, there are two systems of law, one is that which

relates to the angels, which is that they have been created

for obedience and their obedience is a characteristic of

their bright nature. They cannot commit sin, but also they

cannot make progress in goodness. The second system of

law relates to mankind, which is that by their nature they

can be guilty of sin, but they can also make progress in

goodness. Both these natural laws are unchangeable and

as an angel cannot become man, so man cannot become

an angel. These systems of law are eternal and are not

liable to change. The law that operates in heaven cannot

operate on earth, nor can the law that operates on earth

operate in respect of angels. If human defaults end in

Allah the Exalted 1

repentance, man can be much better than angels for an-

gels cannot make progress in goodness. Human sins are

forgiven through repentance. Divine wisdom leaves some

individuals free to commit sins so that thereby they

should become aware of their weakness and may be for-

given through repentance. This is the law that is

appointed for man and it is suited to man's nature.

Error and forgetfulness are characteristics of human na-

ture and they are not characteristics of angels. Therefore,

the law that regulates angels cannot be put in force in

respect of men. It is an error to attribute any weakness to

God Almighty. It is the consequences of the operation of

law that are manifested upon the earth. Is God so weak

that His kingdom and power and glory are limited to

heaven or is it that there is some other god who is in ad-

verse possession of the earth? The Christians should not

emphasise that God's kingdom operates only in heaven

and is not yet in operation on the earth, for they hold that

heaven is nothing. If heaven, where God's kingdom

should operate, is nothing and God's kingdom has not yet

arrived upon earth, this would mean that God's kingdom

does not rule anywhere. Whereas we observe with our

own eyes that God's kingdom is in operation on the earth.

According to His law, our lives come to an end and our

conditions change continuously. We experience hundreds

of types of comfort and pain. Thousands of people die by

God's command and thousands are born, prayers are ac-

cepted, signs are displayed and the earth produces

thousands of types of vegetables, fruits and flowers by

His command. Then is all this happening without the

kingdom of God? Heavenly bodies seem to continue in

one condition and no outward change is felt with regard

to them, which should indicate the existence of a Being


Who brings about change. But the earth is continuously

undergoing change. Every day millions of people pass

out of the earth and millions are born and in every way

the control of a powerful Creator is felt. Is there still no

kingdom of God on earth?

The Gospel puts forward no reason why the kingdom of

God has not arrived on earth. It is true that Jesus prayed

for deliverance all through the night in the garden and as

it is recorded in Hebrews 5:7 that prayer was accepted,

yet God did not have the power to deliver him. This ac-

cording to the Christians, can be a reason for affirming

that at that time there was no kingdom of God upon

earth. But I have experienced greater trials and have been

delivered from them. How can I deny the kingdom of

God. Was that case in which I was, at the instance of

Martyn Clarke, charged with conspiracy to murder in the

court of Capt. Douglas, less grave than the case which

was brought by the Jews against Jesus in the court of

Pilate, on account of religious differences and not be-

cause of any charge of murder? But as God is the King of

the earth as He is the King of heaven, He informed me in

advance of that case that such a trial was coming and

then He told me that I would be discharged. This was

announced to hundreds of people in advance and in the

end I was discharged. It was the kingdom of God which

delivered me from this case which had been brought

against me at the joint instance of Muslims, Hindus and

Christians. Thus not once, but scores of times, I wit-

nessed the kingdom of God upon earth and I had to

believe in the verse: 99

99 Al Hadid, 57:3 [Publisher]


To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the

earth;

and I had to believe in the verse: 100

This means that: Heaven and earth obey Him and when

He wills a thing and He says to it: Be; it happens at once.

Then He says: 101

That is to say: God’s command over His will is supreme,

but most people are unaware of His wrath and Omnipo-

tence.

So much for the prayer taught in the Gospel which takes

away man's hope of God's mercy and makes Christians

forgetful of His Rububiyyat and they do not consider God

capable of helping on earth till His kingdom should ar-

rive upon the earth. As a contrast the prayer that God has

taught to the Muslims in the Qur’an teaches that God is

not helpless in the earth like one dethroned, but that His

system of Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat and Rahimiyyat are in

operation on the earth and that He has the power to help

His worshippers and can destroy the offenders with His

wrath. That prayer is as follows:

102

This means that: God alone is worthy of all praise. There

is no deficiency in His kingdom. Nothing is awaited out

100 Ya-Sin 36:83 [Publisher] 101 Yusuf, 12:22 [Publisher] 102 al-Fatihah, 1:2-7 [Publisher]


of His excellences which does not exist today, but would

be achieved tomorrow. There is nothing vain in His

kingdom. He provides for all the worlds. He bestows His

mercy absolutely without any prior action on the part of

man, and also in return for man's actions. He awards re-

ward and punishment at their due time. We worship Him

and seek His help and pray that He should show us the

way of all bounties and should keep us away from the

ways of His anger and of error.

This prayer which is set out in Surah Fatihah is the an-

tithesis of the prayer taught in the Gospel, inasmuch as

God's present kingdom of the earth is denied in the Gos-

pel. Thus according to the Gospel neither God's

Rububiyyat, nor His Rahmaniyyat, nor His Rahimiyyat nor

His Malikiyyat is in operation on the earth because God's

kingdom has not yet arrived upon the earth, but Surah

Fatihah indicates that God's kingdom is in operation on

the earth and thus all the essentials of the kingdom are set

out in the Surah.

It is obvious that a king should possess the following

qualities: He should have power to provide for people

and Surah Fatihah proclaims that God is the Sustainer of

the worlds. The second quality of a king should be that

whatever his subjects should need for settling down in

the earth should be provided out of his kingly mercy and

not in return for any service. Surah Fatihah affirms this

quality in God by calling Him Rahman. The third quality

which a king should possess is that he should help his

subjects towards achievement of that which they cannot

achieve by their own efforts. The Surah affirms this qual-

ity by the use of the word Rahim. The fourth quality that

a king should possess is that he should have power to


reward and punish so that social conditions should not be

disturbed. The Surah affirms this quality in God by de-

scribing Him as Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din. In short, the Surah

presents all those essentials of kingship that prove that

God's kingdom and kingly control are in operation on the

earth....

Listen, the greatest understanding is that every particle of

the earth is as much under the control of God as every

particle of heaven is part of His kingdom, and that as

there is a grand manifestation in heaven there is also a

grand manifestation on earth. The manifestation in

heaven is a matter of faith. An average person has not

ascended to heaven nor witnessed that manifestation, but

the manifestation of God's kingdom upon earth is clearly

visible to everyone's eyes.

Every human being, however wealthy he might be, tastes

of death contrary to his desire. Observe, therefore, how

the manifestation of the command of the true King is

visible upon the earth that when His command comes no

one can delay his death for a second. When a person is

afflicted with mortal illness, no physician is able to cure

it. Reflect, therefore, what a manifestation of God's king-

dom upon earth it is that His command cannot be

rejected. How can it then be said that the kingdom of

God upon earth is not yet, but will arrive at some future

time?

In this age, God's commandment from heaven has shaken

the earth with the plague so that it should be a sign for

His Messiah. Who is it who can remove it without His

command? Then how can we say that God's kingdom has

not yet arrived upon earth? The wicked one carries on

like a prisoner on earth and does not wish to die, but


God's true kingdom destroys him and the angel of death

finally seizes hold of him. Then how can it be said that

the kingdom of God has not arrived upon the earth?

Every day by God's command millions of people die in

an hour and millions are born by His Command and mil-

lions of the poor by His command become rich and

millions of the wealthy become poor. Then how can it be

said that God's kingdom upon earth is not yet?

In heaven there are only angels, but on the earth there are

men and also angels, who are agents of God and are the

servants of His kingdom. They guard the various enter-

prises of man, obey God all the time and send up their

reports to Him. Then how can it be said that there is not

the kingdom of God upon earth?

God has been known mostly through His earthly king-

dom for everyone imagines that the mystery of heaven is

a secret and cannot be witnessed. In recent times all

Christians and their philosophers have denied the exis-

tence of heaven on which the Gospels base the whole

kingdom of God, but the earth is in fact a globe under our

feet and thousands of Divine decrees are manifested

thereupon, which make us understand that all this change

and birth and death is by the command of some Master.

Then how can it be said that there is not yet the kingdom

of God upon earth?

God, the Lord of Honour and Glory, has named neither

heaven nor earth in Surah Fatihah and yet He has dis-

closed the reality to us by saying that God is Rabb-ul-

‘Alamin. That is to say, all through creation, wherever

there are bodies or souls, God is the Creator and Sus-

tainer of all, Who provides for them all the time and

administers them. His Rububiyyat, Rahmaniyyat and Ra-


himiyyat are in operation all the time in all the worlds. It

should be borne in mind that by the phrase Malik-i-Yaum-

id-Din in Surah Fatihah, it is not meant that reward and

punishment would be awarded only on the Judgement

Day. The Holy Qur’an has repeatedly made it clear that

the Judgement Day will be the time of the grand recom-

pense, but that one type of recompense begins in this

very world, which is indicated in the verse:

103

[Kashti Nuh, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 19, pp. 32-42]

According to the Holy Qur’an, God is on earth as well as

in the heaven, as He has said:

104

He it is Who is God in heaven and God on earth.

He has also said that no three are gathered together for

secret consultation, but that God is the fourth among

them.

He is Limitless as is said in the verse: 105

Eyes cannot reach His limit, but He reaches their limit.

It is also said in the Holy Qur’an:

106

We are closer to him than his jugular vein.

At one place, it is said that God comprehends everything

and it is also said:

103 ‘He creates discrimination between you.’—al-Anfal, 8:30 [Publisher] 104 al-Zukhruf, 43:85 [Publisher] 105 al-An‘am, 6:104 [Publisher] 106 Qaf, 50:17 [Publisher]


107

Allah surely supervenes between man and his mind.

It is also said:

108

That is to say: The heavens and the earth are lit up by the

light of Divine countenance without which it is all dark-

ness.

It is also said:

109

That is to say: Everything is subject to change and de-

struction, and the only One Who will endure is God.

Human nature is forced to confess that in this universe

there is a Being Who is not subject to change and de-

struction and Who continues to survive all conditions,

and He is God. But as sin and disobedience and all man-

ner of unholy things are manifested in the earth, those

who confine God to the earth in the end become wor-

shippers of idols and created beings as has happened to

the Hindus.

Concept of ‘Arsh in Islam

The Holy Qur’an has made it clear that on the one side

God has a close relationship with His creatures and that

He is the life of every thing living and the support of

every being. On the other side, to safeguard against the

error lest anyone should conclude from the relationship

between God and man, that man himself is God, as do

107 al-Anfal, 8:25 [Publisher] 108 al-Nur, 24:36 [Publisher] 109 al-Rahman, 55:27-28 [Publisher]


the Vedantists. It is also stated that He is above every-

thing and is beyond everything and that His station is

‘Arsh (the Throne). The ‘Arsh is not something that has

been created or something material. It is the name of the

transcendental station which is beyond the beyond. It is

not a throne on which God is to be imagined as being

seated. It is the station which is beyond of beyond from

creation and is a station of transcendence and holiness.

As the Holy Qur’an says, after establishing the relation-

ship of Creator and created with everything, God settled

Himself on the ‘Arsh. That is to say, despite all relation-

ships He remained apart and did not mix with His

creation.

God's being with everyone and comprehending every-

thing is His attribute of resemblance. He has mentioned

this attribute in the Holy Qur’an to demonstrate His

nearness to man. His being beyond of beyond from all

creation and being above all and higher than all and far-

thest of all and being at the station of transcendence and

holiness, which is far from creation and is called ‘Arsh, is

the attribute of transcendence. God has mentioned this

attribute in the Holy Qur’an so that He should establish

His Unity and His being without associate and having

withdrawn from the qualities of creation. Other people

have either adopted God's attribute of transcendence and

have called Him Nirgun, or they have accepted Him as

Sargan and have attributed such resemblance to Him as if

He was the very creation itself. They have not combined

these two attributes, but God Almighty in the Holy

Qur’an has shown His countenance in the mirror of both

these attributes and this is His perfect Unity.



It is not the belief of the Muslims that the ‘Arsh is a

physical or created thing on which God is seated. You

may go through the Qur’an from the beginning to the end

and you will not find it stated that the ‘Arsh is something

limited and created. God has repeatedly said in the Holy

Qur’an that He is the Creator of all things that have any

existence. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, and

souls and all their faculties. He is Self-Existing and eve-

rything exists because of Him. Every particle that exists

is His creation. He has nowhere stated that the ‘Arsh is

something physical of which He is the Creator.... Wher-

ever the word ‘Arsh has been used in the Holy Qur’an its

meaning is the Greatness and Majesty and Supremacy of

God. That is why it is not included among created things.

There are four manifestations of the Greatness and Maj-

esty of God Almighty. The Vedas call them four gods,

but according to the idiom of the Holy Qur’an they are

angels.

[Nasim-e-Da‘wat, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol.19, pp. 453-456]

In the Holy Qur’an by ‘Arsh is meant the station which is

higher than the rank of resemblance and is superior to

every world and is beyond of beyond and is the station of

Holiness and transcendence. It is not anything which is

made of stone or brick or any other thing on which God

is seated. That is why it is described as uncreated. As

God Almighty says He manifests Himself to the heart of

a believer, in the same way He says that He manifests

Himself upon the ‘Arsh. He affirms clearly that He sup-

ports everything and has not said anywhere that anything

supports Him. The ‘Arsh which is a higher station than

the whole universe, is a manifestation of His attribute of

transcendence.

Allah the Exalted 1

We have explained it several times that since eternity,

Divine attributes are of two kinds: the attribute of resem-

blance and the attribute of transcendence. As it was

necessary to set out both attributes in His Word, for the

declaration of His attribute of resemblance, He men-

tioned His hand and eye and love and anger in the Holy

Qur’an, and then to remove the suspicion of resemblance

He stated at one place:

110

and at other places it is said that He settled Himself on

the ‘Arsh as, for instance, in the verse:

111

Your God is the One Who raised up the heavens without

any pillars, as you can see. Then He settled Himself on

the Throne.

From the literal meaning of this verse, it would seem to

follow that God was not settled on the ‘Arsh before. The

explanation of this is that the ‘Arsh is nothing material,

but is a state of being beyond of beyond which is God's

attribute. God created heaven and earth and all other

things and bestowed upon the sun and the moon and stars

light from His own light by way of reflection and created

man, metaphorically speaking, in His Own image and

breathed into him His Holy attributes. He thus created a

resemblance unto Himself. But as He is free from any

resemblance He described His transcendence by the ex-

pression of ‘settling on the Throne.’ Despite having

created everything He is not His very creation itself, but

110 ‘There is nothing whatever like unto Him.’—al-Shura, 42:12 [Publisher] 111 al-Ra‘d, 13:3 [Publisher]


is apart from everything and is at a station which is be-

yond the beyond.


Another objection which is sometimes raised is that it

appears from the Holy Qur’an that on the Day of Judge-

ment eight angels will bear aloft the ‘Arsh, from which it

is concluded that in this world four angels bear the ‘Arsh

aloft. Here a question arises that God Almighty is above

having His Throne borne up by anyone. The answer is as

you have just heard that the ‘Arsh is nothing material

which can be borne up or is capable of being borne up.

The station of transcendence and Holiness is ‘Arsh and

that is why it is described as uncreated. A material object

cannot be outside the creation of God. Whatever has

been stated with regard to the ‘Arsh is by way of meta-

phor. A reasonable person can understand that this

objection is baseless.

The truth is that when God Almighty withdraws to the

station where His attribute of transcendence covers all

His other attributes and makes Him beyond of beyond

and hidden of hidden, which station, in the idiom of the

Holy Qur’an, is called ‘Arsh, then God rises above hu-

man reason and reason cannot reach Him. Then four of

His attributes which have been named four angels which

have been manifested in the world, disclose His hidden

Being.

The first of these is His Rububiyyat through which He

perfects man physically and spiritually. The manifesta-

tion of the body and soul is in consequence of the

demand of Rububiyyat. In the same way Divine revela-

tion and the manifestation of extraordinary signs are in

consequence of the demand of Rububiyyat.


The second attribute which has been manifested is His

Rahmaniyyat whereby He has provided numberless boun-

ties for man without any action having preceded from

man. This attribute also discloses His hidden Being.

The third attribute is His Rahimiyyat. That means, that at

first He bestows upon righteous people by virtue of His

Rahmaniyyat the capacity for righteous action and then,

as demanded by His Rahimiyyat, He enables them to

perform righteous actions and thus safeguards them

against calamities. This attribute also discloses His hid-

den Being.

The fourth attribute is Malik-i-Yaum-id-Din. This also

discloses His hidden Being as by virtue of it He rewards

the righteous and chastises the wicked. These four attrib-

utes bear aloft His ‘Arsh. That is to say, His hidden Being

is recognized in this world through these attributes. This

recognition will be doubled in the hereafter, that is to

say, eight angels, instead of four, will bear aloft the

‘Arsh.


The Unity of God is a light which illumines the heart

after the so-called outer and inner deities are totally ne-

gated, and it courses through every particle of man's

being. It cannot be acquired by anyone on his own, but

only through God and His Messenger. Man's function is

that he should impose a death upon his ego and should

discard the satanic vanity that he is a learned person. He

should deem himself ignorant and should be occupied

with supplication. Then the light of Unity would descend

upon him from God and would bestow new life upon

him.

[Haqiqat-ul-Wahi, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 22, p. 148]


As ever since the creation of the world the recognition of

God is tied up with the recognition of a Prophet, it is im-

possible that the knowledge of Unity could be obtained

except through a Prophet. A Prophet is a mirror for the

beholding of God. It is only through this mirror that the

countenance of God may be seen. When God Almighty

desires to manifest Himself to the world, He sends a

Prophet into the world who is the manifestation of His

Powers and to whom He displays His Rububiyyat. Then

the world realizes that God is.

It is a part of the Unity of God to believe in those who

have been under the eternal law of God appointed as a

means of the recognition of God. Without this belief,

faith in the Unity of God cannot be perfected. It is not

possible to achieve faith in the pure Unity of God, which

is created from the fountain of perfect certainty, in the

absence of heavenly signs and wonders which are dis-

played by the Prophets whereby they lead people to full

understanding. They are a group that points to God and

through whom God, Whose Being is imperceptible upon

imperceptible and hidden upon hidden, manifests Him-

self. That hidden Treasure, Whose name is God, has ever

been recognized through the Prophets. The acquisition of

faith in the Unity of God, which is estimated as true

Unity by God Himself, except through a Prophet, is as

much opposed to reason as it is contrary to the experi-

ence of all seekers after God.


The true Unity of God, the affirmation of which is de-

manded by God and upon which salvation depends, is to

believe that God in His Being is free from every associate,

whether it is an idol or a human being, or the sun or


moon or one's ego, or one's cunning or deceit; and to

conceive of no one as possessing power in opposition to

Him, nor to accept anyone as sustainer, nor to hold any-

one as bestowing honour or disgrace, nor to consider

anyone as helper or assistant; and to confine one's love to

Him and one's worship to Him and one's humility to Him

and one's hopes to Him and one's fear to Him. No Unity

can be complete without the following three types of

particularisation. First, there is the Unity of Being, that is

to say, to conceive the whole universe as nonexistent in

contrast with Him and to consider it mortal and lacking

reality. Secondly, the Unity of attributes, that is to say,

that Rububiyyat and Godhead are confined to His Being

and that all others who appear as sustainers or benefac-

tors are only a part of the system set up by His hand.

Thirdly, the Unity of love and sincerity and devotion;

that is to say, not to consider anyone as an associate of

God in the matter of love and worship and to be entirely

lost in Him.

[Siraj-ud-Din ‘Isa’i ke Char Sawalon ka Jawab, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 12, pp. 349-350]

Refutation of the Christians’ Faith in the Unity of God

In these days, the Unity and Existence of God are subject

to powerful attacks. The Christians have tried hard and

have written a good deal on the subject, but whatever

they have said or written, is about the God of Islam and

not about a dead, crucified and helpless god. We affirm it

confidently that whoever begins to write on the Existence

and Being of God Almighty, would in the end have to

revert to the God that is presented by Islam, because

every leaf of the book of nature points to Him and natu-

rally every man carries His impress within himself.

[Malfuzat, Vol. I, p. 83]


The Christians should remember that it is not at all estab-

lished that Jesus was the Resurrection, nor have the

Christians been resurrected. They are dead more than the

other dead, and lie in narrow and dark graves and are

fallen into the pit of paganism. They neither possess the

spirit of faith nor the blessings of such spirit. They have

not achieved even the lowest grade of faith in the Unity

of God, which is to abstain from the worship of crea-

tures. They worship as creator one weak and helpless like

themselves.

The Unity of God has three grades. The lowest grade is

to abstain from the worship of any created thing like one-

self, neither stone nor fire nor man nor any star. The

second grade is that one should not be devoted to mate-

rial means as if they were a sort of partner in the

operation of Rububiyyat. One must concentrate on the

Provider of means rather than on the means. The third

grade is that having witnessed perfectly Divine manifes-

tations, one should consider every other being as

nonexistent including one's own self. Everything beside

God Almighty, Who possesses perfect attributes, should

appear as mortal to one's eyes. Spiritual life means that

these three grades of faith in Unity should be achieved.

Now consider carefully that all eternal fountains of spiri-

tual life have come into the world through Hadrat

Muhammad, the chosen one [peace and blessings of Al-

lah be on him]. It is only the Muslims, though they are

not Prophets, who experience converse with God Al-

mighty like the Prophets, and though they are not

Messengers, God's bright signs appear at their hands, and

the rivers of spiritual life flow through them and no one

else can compete with them. Is there anyone who would


take up this challenge and, standing in opposition, would

exhibit blessings and signs as an answer !!!

[A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 5, pp. 223-224]

Evils of Associating Partners with God

I regret that I have not found words in which I should set

out the evils of leaning towards anyone except God. Peo-

ple cringe before others and flatter them, which envokes

the jealousy of God Almighty, and is tantamount to pray-

ing to people, from which God withdraws and which He

casts aside. I set out the matter in a crude way, though it

is not its true reality and yet it is easy to follow. A self-

respecting man's jealousy would not tolerate another per-

son establishing a relationship with his wife, as in such a

case, he would consider his wretched wife worthy of

being killed and very often that is what happens in fact.

Similar is the jealousy of the Divine. Servitude and

prayer are reserved for His Being. He does not approve

that anyone else should be worshipped or should be

called on in supplication. So remember well that to lean

towards any beside Allah is to cut asunder from Him.

Prayer and Unity—for Prayer is the name of the procla-

mation of Unity in practice—are without blessing and

vain when they are empty of humility and nothingness

and are not pursued with a single-minded heart!

[Malfuzat, Vol. I, pp. 167-168]

Associating others with God takes many forms and is

called shirk. There is the obvious shirk in which Hindus,

Christians, Jews and other idol worshippers indulge, in

which a man or stone or lifeless things or faculties or

fictitious deities are worshipped as God. Though this

form of shirk is still current in the world, yet this is the

age of light and education, and reason is beginning to


abhor this form of shirk. It is true that some people sub-

scribe to these stupidities as part of their national

religion, yet at heart they are beginning to be repelled by

them.

But there is another type of shirk, which is spreading

secretly like poison and it is greatly on the increase in

this age and that is that there is no trust in and depend-

ence upon God Almighty.

We do not say, nor is it part of our faith, that means

should be discarded altogether. For God Almighty has

Himself urged the use of means and if means are not

used to the extent to which they are necessary, this would

be to dishonour human faculties and to defame the grand

action of God Almighty in bestowing them. If means are

discarded altogether, it would mean that all faculties

which God Almighty has bestowed upon man should be

left idle and should not be put to any use, which would

amount to condemning God's action as vain and useless

and therefore a great sin. Therefore, we do not at all

mean, nor is it part of our religion, that means should be

discarded altogether. The use of means up to the proper

limit is necessary. Means are needed for the hereafter

also. To carry out the commandments of God Almighty

and to avoid vice and to carry out good works is all un-

dertaken so that we should be at ease in this world and

the next. Thus righteous conduct is a substitute for

means. God has not forbidden use of means for the ful-

filling of worldly needs. A public servant should

discharge his duties, a cultivator of land should occupy

himself with agricultural operations, a labourer should

perform his labour so that all of them should be able to

discharge the obligations that they owe to their family


and children and other relations and to their own selves.

All this is right up to the proper limit and is not forbid-

den; but when, transcending that limit, a person places all

his trust in the means, that becomes shirk which casts a

person far away from his true purpose. For instance, if a

person says that had it not been for a certain factor, he

would have died of hunger, or that if had it not been for a

certain property or an occupation, he would have been in

bad shape, or if it had not been for a certain friend, he

would have been in trouble, this would be displeasing to

God. He would not approve that a person should rely so

much upon property, or other means or friends that he

should stray far away from God Almighty. This is a very

dangerous form of shirk which is patently contrary to the

teaching of the Holy Qur’an as God Almighty has said:

112

and as He has said:

113

and as He has said:

114

and as He has said:

115

The Holy Qur’an is full of verses that God is the Guard-

112 ‘And in heaven is your sustenance, and also that which you are

promised.’—al-Dhariyat, 51:23 [Publisher] 113 ‘And He who puts his trust in Allah - He is sufficient for him.’—

al-Talaq, 65:4 [Publisher] 114 ‘He who fears Allah - He will make for him a way out, and will

provide for him from where he expects not.’—al-Talaq, 65:3-4 [Pub-

lisher] 115 ‘And He protects the righteous.’—al-A‘raf, 7:197 [Publisher]


ian of and provides for the virtuous. Then when a person

relies wholly upon the means, and puts his whole trust in

them, in so doing he ascribes to them some of the attrib-

utes of God, and sets them up as another god beside Him.

When he leans towards one side, he advances towards

shirk. Those who lean towards officials and receive

bounties and titles from them, honour them as they

should honour God and thus in a way worship them. This

alone uproots a person’s belief in the Unity of God and

diverts him from his true purpose and casts him far away.

The Prophets [peace and blessings of Allah be on them]

teach that there should be no conflict between Unity and

material means and that each should keep to its proper

place and that the end should be Unity. They desire to

teach man that all honour and all comfort and all fulfil-

ment comes from God. If anything else is set up in

opposition to Him there would be a conflict in two oppo-

sites in which one would be destroyed. The Unity of God

must always prevail. Means should be used but should

not be deified.

Belief in Unity gives birth to the love of God Almighty,

as one realizes that all benefit and loss is in His hands,

that He is the true Benefactor and that every particle pro-

ceeds from Him without the intervention of anyone else.

When a person achieves this holy condition, he is known

as a believer in the Unity of God. One condition of belief

in Unity is that man should not worship stones, or human

beings, or anything else, and should express disgust and

abhorrence against deifying them; the second condition is

that no undue importance should be attached to material

means. The third condition is that one's ego and its pur-

poses should also be excluded and negatived. Very often

a person has in mind his own qualities and power and

Allah the Exalted 1

imagines that he has achieved certain good with his own

power and he depends so much upon his power that he

attributes everything to it. Real faith in the Unity of God

is achieved when a person negatives his own powers

also.

[Malfuzat, Vol. III, pp. 79-82]

The Christian doctrine is that those who do not believe in

Trinity and do not subscribe to the atonement of Jesus

would be condemned eternally to hell.... To confine Lim-

itless God to three or four partners and to believe that

each is perfect in himself and is yet in need of associa-

tion, and to imagine that God was word in the beginning

and that the same word that was God descended into the

womb of Mary and acquired a body from her blood and

was born in the usual manner and suffered all the ail-

ments of childhood and when he grew up, he was seized

and put upon the cross, is abominable shirk, whereby

man has been deified. God is above descending into a

womb and acquiring a body and being seized by His ene-

mies.

Human nature rejects that God should undergo such suf-

fering and that He Who is the Master of all Greatness and

is the Fountainhead of all honour should permit such

humiliation for Himself. The Christians admit that this

was the first occasion of the humiliation of God and that

He had never suffered such humiliation before. It had

never happened before that God should have been estab-

lished in the womb of a woman like the sperm. Ever

since people had heard the name of God, it had never

happened that He should have been born of a woman like

a human child. The Christians admit all this and also

admit that the three partners in the Godhead did not in


the beginning have three separate bodies, but that at a

certain point in time, 1896 years ago, separate bodies

were assigned to the three partners. The form of the fa-

ther is like that of Adam, for He created Adam in His

own image (see Old Testament, Genesis 1:27), and the

son appeared in the form of Jesus (see John 1:1) and the

Holy Ghost assumed the form of a dove. (see Matthew

3:16)....

According to the Christians, these three embodied gods

are embodied forever and have separate beings forever

and yet all three combined are One God. If anyone can

tell us, we should like to know how could all these three

be one and yet have separate eternal bodies. Let someone

unite Dr. Martyn Clarke and Padre ‘Imad-ud-Din and

Padre Thakar Dass into one despite their separate bodies.

We can confidently affirm that if the three are beaten into

one and their flesh is mixed together, they who were cre-

ated three by God cannot become one. Since three mortal

beings, despite possessing the possibility of assimilation

and division cannot become one, then how the three be-

ings about whom the Christians do not admit of the

possibility of assimilation and division, can be one?

It would not be improper to say that these three gods of

the Christians are like three members of a committee and

according to them every commandment is issued by them

unanimously or by a majority, as if Godhead were a re-

publican form of government and god could not run the

government on his own and is dependent upon the deci-

sions of the council.

Such is the compound god of the Christians; let him who

wishes take a look at him.

[Anjam-e-Atham, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 11, pp. 34-36]


The Christian religion is deprived of the Unity of God.

These people have turned away from the True God and

have made a new god for themselves who is the son of an

Israeli woman. But is this new god all-powerful as the

True God is? His own history bears witness against this.

Had he been all-powerful, he would not have been beaten

up by the Jews, would not have been taken into custody

by the Romans and would not have been put upon the

cross. When the Jews said that if he came down from the

cross on his own, they would believe in him, he would at

once have come down, but on no occasion did he demon-

strate his power.

As for his miracles, they are far fewer than those of most

other Prophets; for instance, if a Christian were to com-

pare the miracles of Prophet Elias, which are set out in

detail in the Bible and which include the revival of the

dead, with the miracles of Jesus son of Mary, he would

have to confess that the miracles of Prophet Elias were

grander and more numerous than those of Jesus son of

Mary. The Gospels repeatedly mention that Jesus used to

drive out evil spirits from those who suffered from epi-

lepsy and this is considered a great miracle, which is

regarded as laughable by research scholars. It has now

been established that epilepsy is caused by some weak-

ness in the brain or some ulcer in the brain or by some

other disease, but no one has asserted that it has anything

to do with evil spirits….

Neither the birth of Jesus nor any of his miracles can be

cited as proof of his godhead. God Almighty has men-

tioned the birth of John the Baptist along with the birth of

Jesus in order to indicate that as the extraordinary birth

of John does not take him out of the category of human


beings, so the birth of Jesus son of Mary does not prove

that he was God....

Jesus possessed no extraordinary power. He was a hum-

ble person and was characterized by human weakness

and lack of knowledge. The Gospels show that he had no

knowledge of the hidden, he went to a fig tree in order to

eat of its fruit and was not aware that there was no fruit

on the tree. He confessed that he had no knowledge of

the Day of Judgement. Had he been God, he should have

known of the Day of Judgement. He possessed no Divine

attribute and there was nothing in him which is not to be

found in others. The Christians admit that he died. How

unfortunate then is the sect whose god is liable to death.

To say that he was revived after his death affords no

comfort. What reliance can be placed in the life of one

who is liable to death?


Of what use is a god some of whose faculties fell into a

decline like some of the faculties of a person who grows

old? Of what use is a god who cannot forgive the sins of

his servants till he is flogged, spat upon, kept in custody,

or nailed to the cross? We abhor a god who was subdued

by the low Jews who had lost their own kingdom. We

believe in the True God Who made a poor and helpless

one of Mecca His Prophet and manifested His Power and

Supremacy in the same age and to the whole world.

When the King of Persia sent his emissaries to arrest the

Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him]

God Almighty directed His Messenger to tell the emis-

saries that his God had the previous night killed their

god. It is to be observed that on the one side is a claimant

to godhood who is arrested by a Roman soldier and is


taken into custody and his night-long supplications are

not accepted; and on the other side is a person who

claims only to be a Prophet and God Almighty destroys

kings who are opposed to him. For a seeker after truth

there is a very helpful proverb:

116

What use have we for a religion that is dead and what

benefit can we derive from a book that is dead and what

beneficence can a god bestow upon us who is dead?

[Chashma-e-Masihi, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 20, p. 353]

That to which they call us is a low idea and a shameful

doctrine. Can reason accept that a humble creature who

possesses all the qualities of a man should be called god?

Can reason tolerate that creatures should flog their Crea-

tor and that the servants of God should spit in the face of

the Powerful God and should seize Him and should nail

Him to the cross and that He should be helpless in their

hands? Can anyone understand that a person should call

himself God and should supplicate a whole night long

and his supplication should not be accepted? Can any

heart draw comfort from the idea that God should spend

nine months in a womb and be nourished on blood and

should be born wailing through the usual channel? Can

any reasonable person accept that after an eternity of

time God should assume a body and one part of Him

should take the form of man and another should take the

form of a pigeon and that these bodies should confine

Him for ever.

[Kitab-ul-Bariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 13, pp. 86-87]

116 Make friends with the Supreme One so that you too should be-

come supreme. [Publisher]


Poems in Glorification and Remembrance

of Allah

Praise of the Lord of All the Worlds (Urdu Poem)

How manifest is the light

Of the Source of all lights,

Turning the Universe into a mirror

For eyes to see His reflection.

When I saw the moon yester-night

I was overwhelmed with longing,

For it reminded me a little

Of the beauty of my Beloved Lord.

His eternal beauty

Has set our hearts afire;

Mention not to us the beauty

Of the Turk or Tartar.

O Beloved! Passing strange and wonderful

Is the spectacle of Your glory all around;

Whichever way we turn,

Is the path that leads to You.

Your own light burns bright

In the resplendent fountain of the sun;

In every star can be seen

The spectacle of Your glowing beauty.

With Your own hands have You

Sprinkled salt upon the souls,

Causing great commotion of love

Among Your anguished lovers.

You have invested each particle

With amazing qualities;

Who can ever decipher

Your boundless mysteries?


No one can fathom

The extent of Your limitless power;

Nor can anyone unravel

The mysteries of this intricate knot.

It is Your beauty that lends charm

To every beautiful face;

So are the hues and colours of each flower and garden

But a reflection of Your loveliness.

The love-laden glances of a beautiful face

Ever remind us of You;

Every curly lock points its finger

In Your direction.

To every believer and non-believer,

Your countenance alone should be the focal point;

But alas! the sightless suffer

From a thousand veils.

O my Beloved, Your enchanting glances

Are like the sharp sword

Which cuts off all bondages

Of loyalty and love for others.

Only to win Your love

Have I reduced myself to dust;

Hoping, the pangs of separation

May be assuaged a little.

Except when I am with You

I am ever restless;

Like the sinking heart of a patient,

Life seems to be ebbing away.

Wherefore this noise in Your neighbourhood?

Pray, tarry not!

Lest some love-lorn lover

Should perish unknown.

[Surma Chashm Arya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 2, p. 52]


Devotion (Urdu Poem)

What was ours

Is now wholly of the Beloved.

As of today, we belong to the Beloved;

And the Beloved belongs to us.

God be thanked, I have found

That matchless gem;

It matters not if the heart

Of the people has turned to stone?

[Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in Vol. 3, p. 458]

Holy is He Who Watches over me (Urdu Poem)

Worship and praise belong to Him Who is Everlasting;

He has not equal or His like.

He alone endures, all else is but perishable;

To love others is only an idle tale.

All are others,

He alone is the darling of my heart;

The only cry of my heart:

‘Holy is He Who watches over me’.

Holy is His Divine might,

Grandeur is His alone;

Those close to Him stand atremble,

And angels are awe-stricken.

His Mercy is all-pervasive;

How can one be grateful enough?

We are all His creation;

Love Him we must.

To love others is contrary to His Pride

Blessed be this day;

Holy is He Who watches over me.


Every comfort we enjoy

Is His Gift and Grace;

Every heart is pledged to Him

And is filled with His Grandeur.

We had better submit to Him alone,

For in it lies all felicity and auspiciousness;



He alone is the Succour and Support of all;

His mercy is manifest.

He alone is Dear to us;

He alone is our Beloved.

He alone is Indispensable;

Everything other than Him is false.



The favour is Yours, O Lord;

I am but an offering at Your threshold.

You have granted the faith;

You alone are the Protector at all times.

Your Grace covers us every moment;

You are the Most Gracious, Ever-Merciful.



How can You be thanked enough;

All that is mine, is Yours!

You have filled my home with every bounty;

All darkness vanished when Your light came;



[Mahmud ki Amin, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 12, pp. 319-320]


Epitaph of Mirza Mubarak Ahmad (Urdu Poem)

Mubarak Ahmad, the darling of my heart,

Pure of countenance, and pure of heart;

He has departed from us today making the heart sad.

He said "I feel sleepy"; those were his last words,

But so soundly he slept as could not be awakened,

We failed to wake him up though we tried hard;

He was eight and a few months old when Allah

summoned him;

The Caller is, indeed, the Dearest,

For Him alone O my heart, lay down your life. [Durr-e-Thamin]

Seek Him Alone O Friends (Urdu Poem)

He watches over you while

You set your heart upon others!

What does He lack which

You seek to find in the idols?

Reflecting upon the sun,

We did not find that light which is His;

When we turned to the moon,

That too was not like the Beloved.

He is the One, has no partner,

And is Imperishable;

All others are prey to death,

He alone is Eternal.

All goodness lie

In loving Him;

Seek Him alone, O friends,

Idols are unfaithful.

Why are you fond

Of this blighted abode?

This place a veritable hell,

Not a garden! [Tashhidh-ul-Adh-han, December 1908]

Allah the Exalted 1

Holy is He Who has humbled my opponents (Urdu Poem)

Lord! All might and power belongs to You;

By finding You, we attained fulfilment of all our

desires.

Every lover has carved for himself an idol;

But our Beloved alone has captivated our hearts.

He alone is the comfort of our soul and the darling of

our heart;

The same One Who is the Lord of the Creation.

He has dawned upon me through His blessings;

Holy is He Who has humbled my opponents.

My life is tied to the Beloved;

He alone is the Paradise and the Ultimate refuge.

To glorify Him, wherefrom can I seek the power?

A river of love flows in my heart.

How great are Your favours, O my Guide,


Your grace knows no limits;

No moment is devoid of it.

Your mercy and favours are countless;

I no longer have the strength to thank You enough.

How great are Your favours, O my Guide,


Which path should I follow to get to Your street?

What service should I render of which You are the

reward?

It is love alone which draws me so irresistibly;

It is the Divine alone through Whom I efface my ego.

What is love? Whom should I tell?

What secret is faithfulness? In whom should I confide?


How can I hide any longer this storm?

Instead I had better scatter my dust to the four winds.

How far removed are we from the mundane world!

Holy is He Who has humbled my opponents. [Durr-e-Thamin]

Praise and Thanks be to the All-Powerful God

(Persian poem)

Praise and thanks be to the Lord God;

It is because of Him that all existence found expression.

This universe is but a mirror of His countenance;

Each and every particle leads the way to Him.

In the mirror of the heavens and the earth,

His unique face is reflected in all its glory.

Each blade of grass is aware of His Being;

Each branch points the way to Him.

The light of the sun and the moon is but a reflection of

His light;

Every manifestation is subject to His decree.

Each brain is but a secret among His secrets;

Each step seeks the portals of His glory.

Every heart’s desire is to relish the beauty of His

countenance;

Even the one that is lost is really in search of His path.

He created the sun, the moon and the earth;

He displayed His creative might in millions of forms.

All these creations are but a register of His creativity;

In which are contained an infinite number of mysteries.

He placed this book of nature before our eyes;

To remind us of the path to righteousness.


So that you recognize the God Almighty

Who bears no resemblance to the world and all who

dwell in it.

So that it should be a criterion to judge the revelation

from the Beloved;

To enable you to recognize from among thousands, the

ones that are from the Friend.

So that all paths of imposture are blocked;

So that light and darkness can be told apart.

Then whatever the Lord God willed came to pass;

And His handiwork bore witness to His Word.

Idolators and all their pretence

Are pierced by the sharp arrows of these witnesses.

If you call someone else as Gracious God,

The heaven and the earth will spit in your face.

If you invent a son for Him Who is Unique,

All high and low will curse you.

This world is virtually proclaiming aloud:

That God is Unique, All-Sustaining, and without

partner.

He has nor father nor son nor wife;

He is Immutable since eternity.

If the rain of His grace were to slow down for a

moment,

All this creation and the universe would come to

nought.

Take a close look at the laws of nature,

So that you realize the greatness of the Lord of all the

worlds. [Dia-ul-Haqq, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 9, pp. 251-252]


A Prayer to the Creator of Heaven and Earth (Persian

Couplets)

O Creator of the heaven and earth!

Open the door of mercy upon me.

You know the anguish

I hide from others.

O my Beloved, You are most Subtle and Refined;

Come and permeate my entire being;

So that Your Presence fills me

With transports of joy and delight.

And if You decline this prayer, O Pure One,

I will die of the pangs of separation;

I will cry my heart out

And the whole world will weep with me.

Whether You part from me with anger,

Or show Your countenance to me with kindness;

Whether You kill me or free me,

How can I ever stop loving You!

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, p. 613]

O God, the Relief of my Troubles! (Persian Poem)

O God, my Lord,

You alone are the Cure of my troubles!

The remedy of our cries, You alone are the balm of our

lacerated souls!

And You alone are the comfort of our ailing hearts.

With Your compassion, You have borne every burden

of ours;

And with Your grace our trees bear fruit and flowers.

Through sheer grace and mercy You protect us and

cover our sins;

With absolute kindness, You are the Friend of the

friendless.


When a helpless servant of Yours is heart-stricken,

All of a sudden You provide remedy for his ailment.

When a humble one is surrounded by darkness,

And so unexpectedly You cause myriads of suns and

moons to appear.

The beauty, the goodness and charm—all attained

perfection in You;

After seeing You, everything else loses its charm.

Wise is he who is madly in love with You;

He is the light of the company who is fond of You.

His faith suddenly comes alive

Who falls in love with You heart and soul.

Your love becomes evident from his face and;

From every nook and corner of his being Your

fragrance issues forth.

You grant him millions of favours by Your grace;

You make the sun and the moon to lie prostrate before

him.

You are ever ready to support him;

One look at him reminds us of Your face.

Many a marvel in this world

Do You exhibit for his sake.

You do the job and also get it done;

You Yourself make this bazaar flourish.

In an instant You turn dust into something valuable;

So that the whole world gains light from its

manifestations.

When You visit someone with grace;

You transform him from the mundane into the celestial.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 1, p. 626-627]


Love (Persian Poem)

Love for You is panacea for a thousand ailments;

By Your face! To be captivated by You is freedom

indeed.

To seek refuge in You is not the way of the mad;

For to find refuge in You is ultimate wisdom.

I shall not conceal the wealth of Your love

For keeping Your love secret is an act of infidelity.

I am ready to shed my honour and life for You;

For true friendship lies in surrendering one’s life to the

Beloved. [A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 5, p. 1]

My love (Persian Poem)

Mention not any king to me,

For I have placed my hopes at another threshold.

The Lord God, Who has granted life to the universe,

He is the Originator, the Creator, the Sustainer.

The Generous, All-Powerful, Reliever of problems,

The Merciful, the Compassionate, Who fulfils all needs.

I lie prostrate at His door, because it is said

‘In this world one thing leads to another.’

Whenever I remember that Faithful Friend,

I forget all my friends and relatives.

How can I tie my heart to other than Him;

For I am so restless without Him!

Search not for my heart in my wounded bosom;

For I have pinned it to the apron-strings of the Beloved.

My heart is the Throne of the Beloved;

My head is an offering in the way of the Friend.

How can I describe the extent of His bounties on me;


For His grace is boundless!

How can I ever be able to count His favours;

For His favours are uncountable!

The kind of relationship I have with the Beloved,

Is beyond the comprehension of all.

I cry at His door,

As a woman cries in the pangs of childbirth.

All my time is saturated with His love;

How happy is the time! How blissful the days!

O the garden of my Beloved! I sing Your praises;

For You have freed me from the beauty of gardens and

the joy of spring. [Hujjat-Ullah, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 12, p. 149]

Devotion (Persian couplets)

How beautiful You are, O Captivator of my heart!

How lovely are Your attributes, O Love of my life!

Ever since I beheld Your face, I have given my heart to

You;

Except of You, no one else remains in my world.

I can renounce both the worlds;

But any separation from You burns my bones.

It is easier to consign one’s body into fire,

But any separation from You terrifies me out of my

wits.


Fighting for the Honour of the Beloved (Persian couplets)

O Eternal Friend, Your countenance is enough for me;

Your alley is better for me than a thousands gardens of

paradise.

Even though I look at another sight out of expediency,


All the time my eyes are focussed on You.

If someone attacks my honour,

My way is to show patience, like You do.

Who am I? and what worth is my honour?

My war is for the sake of Your honour.

[Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, part V, Ruhani Khaza’in, Vol. 21, p.153]

ALLAH THE EXALTED - Al Islam Online · FOREWORD Allah, The Exalted (Glory be to Him and hallowed be...

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